GLEETGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)
by AyameQuart
Summary: Jess is a new student at McKinley High and she meets Cameron and Hannah and joins the Glee Club. While singing, she will meet new friends, she will give her best at competitions, she will fight against the bullies and she will have her ups and downs with a student named Damian. (Characters: glee project contestants, glee teachers and a couple of original characters).
1. Chapter 1

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 1/17: THE ASSEMBLY**

Jess got out of the car. Her dad had driven her to school: William McKinley High School, in Lima, Ohio. Her parents had just moved to Lima and that was her first day of school. She thought that it would be a great day but she was a little nervous. She didn't know anyone there, it was a new place and she was going to arrive there two months after the school year had begun. Jess went in the building and got her class schedule. Nothing interesting that day: math, geography and history. She went to math class. She really paid attention and tried to catch up. At least, it wasn't much different from her old school. When she was walking to her next class, a tall guy with a red football jacket ran into her and made her drop her books. She looked at his back angrily because he didn't even apologized or helped her. Jess thought maybe someone would help her to pick up the books but she was wrong. No one seemed to notice her in that school. Just after she thought that, she felt like there was someone watching her. She looked around but the only people there were passing through the hallway quickly and a group of jocks were talking next to the lockers without looking at her. It was probably her imagination.

In geography, Jess tried to talk to the girl sitting next to her so she could start making friends. The girl had her blonde hair tied back in a pony tail and she was wearing a cheerleader uniform. She ignored Jess and kept on sending texts with her phone. Jess felt sad, she felt invisible there. At lunch time, she sat alone in a big table. She spent the entire lunch time analyzing the groups formed in the cafeteria. They were all divided, and all the cheerleaders and jocks were sitting together. They seemed to be the popular kids. McKinley seemed to be a very stereotypical High School. When she was walking through the hallway and picking up some things from her locker before going home she felt the same sensation again. She felt that someone was looking at her and she could have sworn that she caught a glimpse of two incredibly blue eyes. But again, when she looked back to find those eyes there was nothing. Maybe she was just imagining things. Maybe next day would be better.

The following day Jess went to science class in the morning. An old woman told her to take the free seat at the back of the classroom. There was a guy with dreadlocks in the seat next to hers. He was drawing an accurate caricature of the woman. The teacher paired them off for the science project but Jess wasn't too happy about it. The boy seemed lazy and he had been the whole class distracted and looking through the window. At least, if she had a partner for the project, she would have someone to talk to. After class, she was putting her science books back in her locker.

"Umm… Excuse me." Jess looked at the boy that was talking to her. He was a tall, blonde boy with glasses. He was wearing a cardigan and skinny jeans and he was holding some books in his arms. "That's my locker." he said pointing at the locker under Jess'.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jess said and she took a step back.

"It's ok." the boy said smiling at her. The boy put the books in his locker and took another one. Jess looked at it.

"Do you have English class now? I think you are in my class." Jess said showing to him her identical book.

"Yes. Wow, this is weird. How haven't I seen you before?" he asked while they both walked towards the classroom.

"Oh, I've just moved to Lima. This is my second day."

"And how do you like it so far?" he asked her curious.

"Uuh. It's been terrible." She complained and the boy laughed. "Yesterday I spent the whole day alone and the people I met weren't very nice."

"Well, most people here are not very welcoming. But I'm not like that. Come with me, I'll introduce you to my friend Hannah. My name is Cameron, by the way."

"I'm Jess."

Cameron walked with her into the classroom and he introduced her to his friend. Hannah was a red-haired, smiling girl. The two of them were sitting at the same table and Jess was sitting alone behind them. However, they smiled at her all the time so she wouldn't feel alone. Although most of the time they were paying attention to the teacher they talked a lot in whispers. It was nice to finally meet some nice people. When the class finished Cameron asked her to join them for lunch. They ate and Hannah asked her where was she from and what things did she like to do in her free time. They were very friendly.

"Do you like music?" the boy asked.

"Sure." Jess answered.

"Can you sing?"

"Cameron!" Hannah said with a look of warning.

"What is going on?" Jess asked.

"She's new!" Hannah said to her friend.

"So?" Cameron asked raising his eyebrows. Jess looked at both of them. They seemed to be having a telepathic conversation.

"Okay." Hannah said. "Cameron is asking you that because he wants you to join the glee club."

"What's that?" Jess asked. She had heard about glee clubs before but she wasn't sure what they were exactly.

"Just come with us later. It starts in an hour. You are going to love it. I promise." Hannah told her.

Jess agreed to go. At that moment she wasn't going to reject any opportunity to make more friends. At least, she had made two great friends that day.

After a while, all three were entering what they called the choir room. There was a young man sitting at the piano.

"You're early, guys" the man said.

"Sorry Mr. Schue, but we couldn't wait any longer. Look. We've brought someone." Cameron raised his arm pointing at Jess. The teacher looked interested.

"And you are?"

"I'm Jess Hudson. This is my second day in the school. My parents just moved from Colorado. Cameron and Hannah told me about the glee club."

"Well, that's great! Are you interested in joining in?"

"I guess I can try but I've never sung in front of anybody."

"It's okay. The more, the merrier. It is great that you want to join because we need far more people as soon as possible…" he said with a look of concern at the end.

"What's wrong, Mr. Schue?" Hannah asked.

"I just talked to Principal Figgins. He told me that we have to perform at Sectionals or he's cutting the club."

"What? No! He can't cut the club! We have just started!" Cameron complained with a panic expression.

"I know guys, but after last year he's not willing to keep the club if we don't perform at Sectionals."

"What happened last year?" Jess asked.

Hanna cleared her throat and started to explain it to her.

"Mr. Schuester took over the glee club four years ago. By how he talks about them, they seemed to be pretty good and when most of them were in senior year they won Nationals. NATIONALS." she repeated. "But then last year they still hadn't enough people to compete and when they finally found some they went to Sectionals but they lost. Then, with no competitions, most of the new kids forgot about the glee club. And then Mr. Schue had his baby and he was too busy. So the glee club was completely forgotten in the whole High School. It was a shame; I would have liked to join last year if I had known about it."

"And now we have to find more people to sing at Sectionals or the club is over." Cameron explained angrily.

"How many people do we need? How many are we?" Jess asked. The other three looked at her surprised.

"It's just us." Hannah said. "This year only Cameron and I are in the club. And we have to be twelve to compete. We need nine people! How are we going to get nine people, Mr. Schue?" she asked worried.

"We have to sing in the assembly." he answered. "This Friday is the school assembly. We have to make the best impression in front of the students so they want to join."

"But we are going to be just two people singing. We don't even have a band this year. How are we going to impress anybody?"

"With your voices, Hannah. You and Cameron are wonderful singers."

"Do I sing in the assembly?" Jess asked.

Cameron scratched the back of his head before answering.

"Well, you can sing if you want to… but I wouldn't recommend it. You have just arrived and, for the time being, it's better that people don't know that you are in the glee club. We don't want you to get slushied so soon."

"Slushied?"

"Yeah, it's kind of a tradition for glee kids" Cameron sighed. "Jocks throw us slushies in the face whenever they want."

"You should tell me who they are and I would tell Mr. Figgins!" the teacher said looking upset.

"And they would beat me up if I told somebody, Mr. Schue. It's okay. As long as it's just slushy… I would never win a fight if they decided to pick on me…" Cameron explained, but Mr. Schue still looked angry.

"Okay. Let's move on. Which song are we going to sing?" Hannah asked.

"I thought we should do a glee club classic. The first group of New Directions loved it: _Don't stop believing_." Mr. Schue said.

"Oooh… I love that song!" Cameron said. "Hannah and I could sing it as a duet."

"But Mr. Schue, I don't know if I will be able to sing it…"

"Come on, Hannah! You'll be great. You need more self-esteem." The man argued.

"No, Mr. Schue, I have a lot of self-esteem but this week I have a sore throat and I cannot sing very well."

"You'll be great." Mr. Schue repeated smiling at her and giving her confidence.

Jess really liked that place. Mr. Schue talked to them as a friend, like he was one of the group. And they got to sing and do performances. Glee club seemed like a lot of fun. The only problem was that it wasn't cool in the school and popular kids picked on them. But that had never been a problem to Jess. She had nothing to do with popular kids.

When glee club finished they were walking to the parking lot. Cameron and Hannah were telling her more things about glee club and Jess listened to every little thing with a wide smile on her face. Two cheerios passed next to them.

"Hey, Han. Coming from glee club?" said the one cheerio that was Latina. "It's good for you to be in glee, right? That way you can spend some time alone with that weirdo, nerdy guy you like, huh?" the girl said and then started laughing.

Hannah blushed and Cameron frowned at the cheerios.

"Let's go, Emily." The red-haired cheerio said, pulling the other girl of her arm.

Jess looked at Hannah, who was still blushing and looked uncomfortable.

"Is this normal?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, they do it all the time, mainly cheerios and jocks." Cameron answered.

"Well, I don't like it. This time I was just watching but if they say anything else to any of you, I am not going to keep my mouth shot." Jess explained.

"Don't worry. We're used to it. Do you want a ride?" Cameron asked when they arrived to his car. "Get in! I'll drive you two home."

Hannah and Jess got in the car and Cameron asked her friend to rap something for Jess. Cameron started beatboxing and Hannah began to rap _Ice, Ice baby_. It was awesome. Jess had no idea Hannah could do that and she seemed much more confident. Jess arrived home. It had been a much better day than her first day. She was now a member of the glee club.

It was the day of the assembly. Jess was so nervous. She wasn't even going to sing but she was nervous because of her friends and because of the club. However, other things were on her mind at that moment. Jess was in the school library looking for information for her science project. The guy she was paired with, Samuel, hadn't answered any of her calls. He didn't show up at class and Jess had decided to start their project by herself. She wasn't going to let his attitude result into a failed project. So there she was, before the assembly, reading a science book looking for information. The place was empty except for a brunette girl sitting behind a big table. She seemed very concentrated in her English book. Jess finished with her book and was crossing the hallways towards the gym. They were going to sing there.

"Excuse me, dwarf! But this is not elementary school. I think you are in the wrong place." Some jocks told to a really short boy. The boy rolled his eyes and ignored them, but Jess looked at the jocks angrily. A really tall, ugly guy was the one that had spoken. Jess noticed there was a jock with incredibly blue eyes next to him, just like the eyes she sometimes thought were looking at her. Jess bit her tongue because she was late and she hadn't time to start a fight. Jess entered the gym. Everyone was taking seats. She sat in the front row next to Mr. Schue.

"So, how are they?" Jess asked.

"Nervous." the teacher said. "They have never sung in front of the school before. Hannah is having a little trouble with her throat, but I hope she will do fine. We really need people. Sectionals are just weeks away."

Jess nodded in silence. Even Mr. Schuester seemed nervous. He was really involved in the glee club. He had to like it a lot. The lights turned off and Mr. Schue approached the microphone. Jess heard some giggles and saw the Latina and the red-haired cheerios sat no far behind them.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Mr. Schuester as you know and I'm the director of the glee club. A year ago we won Nationals in L.A. and this year we need more people to get the glee club on top again. We may be less people this year but we're still capable of singing wonderful music. Let my friends show you what they've got!" Mr. Schuester said. He picked up the microphone and Jess could hear a blonde woman in a jogging suit say something about his hair. Mr. Schue sat back and the lights of the improvised stage went on.

Cameron and Hannah were standing looking at each other. The music of _Don't stop believing_ started playing.

**Cameron:** _"Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world"_ _"She took the midnight train goin' anywhere"_

**Hannah:** "_Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit" "He took the midnight train goin' anywhere"_

Jess watched them worried. They sounded amazing but people in the audience seemed bored. Hannah and Cameron started walking like they had practiced in the choreography.

**Hannah:** _"A singer in a smokey room" "A smell of wine and cheap perfuu—uume"_

Hannah could not reach the last note because of her sore throat and people started laughing. Jess heard the giggles of that Emily girl and saw Cameron getting nervous.

**Cameron:** _"For a smile they can share the night" "It goes on and on and on and on"_

Hannah and Cameron were spinning at this last part but at the end Cameron's foot got stuck with Hannah's and Cameron tripped, making everybody laugh in the audience. That made Cameron blush and get more nervous.

**Hannah and Cameron:** _"Strangers waiting up and down the boulevard" "Their shadows searching in the night"_

They sang together and did all the choreography they had rehearsed, but Cameron was so nervous he didn't dare to do big movements and his dancing looked ridiculous. Jess could hear more and more laughter and people whispered offensive comments.

"SHUT UP!" a jock shouted.

"YOU SUCK!" said another one.

**Hannah and Cameron:** _"Streetlights people, living just to find emotion"_

**Cameron (together):** _"Hiding, somewhere in the niiiiiiiiiiiiiight!"_

**Hannah (together):** _"Hiding, somewhere in the niii- _(coughs)_"_

Students started booing and Hannah and Cameron looked at each other. Jess wasn't yet a part of their telepathic conversations but she knew they just wanted to run out of there. She looked at Mr. Schue who was extremely pale. The cheerios kept laughing and people started to yell at Cameron and Hannah, who had stopped singing and were just standing there with panic and watery eyes. She had to do something. If they didn't get enough members the club was over. Jess jumped off her seat and grabbed the mic and the music remote. She got on the stage and saw how her friends were asking her for help with their eyes. Jess tried to not look at them. She felt guilty about what she was going to do but it was the only way. Jess grabbed the mic.

"Wow!" she said smiling. People lowered their voices enough so Jess could be heard. "I thought those glee kids could sing!" Everybody in the audience laughed. "It seems I was mistaken…" Jess couldn't look at her friends but she was sure they were hurt. "And that song? Could someone tell these boys we also have music in this century?" People laughed again and Jess saw Mr. Schue frowned. "Has anybody listened to the radio lately?" Jess adjusted a little bit the mic while people kept laughing. "Let's try something a bit more modern, ok? Let's get the show on the road!"

**Jess:** _"She take my moneeeeeeyyy, well I'm in neeeeed"_

"_Yeaaaah, she's a triflin' friend indeed"_

"_Oh! She's a gold digger way over tiiiiiime"_

"_That digs on me…"_

Everybody went silent. They looked shocked. Jess sang smiling to the audience. She had a beautiful voice. Jess finished her part and lead Hannah to the mic. She stood next to Cameron and winked at him, making him smile. Jess pressed a button on the remote and the music started playing.

**Cameron and Jess:** _"She give me money…"_

**Hannah:** _"Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger"_

**Cameron and Jess:** _"When I'm in need…"_

**Hannah:**_ "But she ain't messin' wit no broke, broke"_

Jess and Cameron started doing an improvised dance while they were singing the chorus. Hannah sounded so great rapping. She sounded confident and with attitude. Hannah kept on rapping the whole song while Cameron and Jess were singing in the back the no-rapped parts of the song. Hannah grabbed the mic and started moving through the stage and she did even a little dancing. Jess couldn't help smiling. Everything was going perfectly. The crowd was still silent. They haven't expected that. The cheerios' mouths hang open and Jess was sure that a lot of the students actually liked that song. Mr. Schuester seemed happy and Jess saw the jock with the blue eyes smiling. It was perfect. Now Hannah was shocking everybody with her rap. Jess knew she could do so much better with a rap than with a song with high parts she couldn't reach so well that day. Everything was going as planned. Hannah, Cameron and Jess finished the song and got off the stage. Jess heard a little clapping from the teachers in the audience but she and her friends ran to the next room.

"I'm so sorry about what I said, I didn't mean any…"

"Are you kidding me?" Cameron shouted. "You saved us! You made it look like all of that was on purpose. Like doing _Don't stop believing_ so bad was planned."

Hannah ran and gave Jess a tight hug.

"Oh my God!" the girl said. "I thought they were going to kill us! And then you came to the stage… and then I was: Is she serious?... and then the rapping… And everybody's faces…"

Cameron laughed nervously putting his glasses on the right place.

"Oh my God, Jess! Thank you so much!" Hannah said excited. "We killed it! And you, Jess. You sounded amazing! That was really good. I think now more people are going to join the club. This is awesome!"

**Notes:**

_Ok. That was the first chapter. I hope you've liked it and you keep on reading. More characters will appear in the next one._

**NEXT CHAPTER: THE FIRST SLUSHIE**

_(P.S.:I suddenly noticed something about Jess. I chose Jess' last name to be Hudson by chance. She has no relation to Finn Hudson XDDD. Maybe I should have put a little more thought into that and found another surname that wouldn't create confussion. __XP)_


	2. Chapter 2

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 2/18: THE FIRST SLUSHY**

Hannah really thought a few people would join the New Directions after they sang _Gold Digger_ in the gym, but it had been a week since they performed in the school Assembly and the signing sheet was still unsigned.

"I guess we'll have to forget about Sectionals this year." Cameron said looking down at the floor of the choir room.

"Come on, guys! We cannot give up so easily!" Mr. Schue complained. "We still have two weeks to get more people. We have to try harder to recruit new members and ask any friend to join."

"Yes, Mr. Schue, but as you may have noticed we haven't got so many friends…" Jess explained, who had her head resting on the piano.

Jess sighed. She had been barely two weeks in her new High School and although she hadn't made tons of friends she was very happy. She was now best friend with Cameron and Hannah and the three of them were the only members of the glee club at that time. She knew that Cameron and Hannah had been friends since they were freshmen so they were closer, but Jess was now their friend too. They spent every moment together and they were constantly telling jokes or singing in the choir room. Jess really loved those times with both of them. They were the nicest people in the school and, even if they were ignored by every other student, they always succeeded to put a smile on her face.

"What if…" Cameron started saying looking at Hannah a little bit worried about her possible reaction "what if you ask Marissa to join?"

"I'm not asking her!" Hannah said firmly and a little bit angry. "She'll never join anyways." she argued when she was calmer.

"Look, guys. I'm serious about this." Mr. Schue said. "I've watched you perform at the assembly and I know I was not the only person who liked it. You guys were awesome and I'm sure there are people in the school who loved it as much as I did. Maybe they are just too afraid of joining and being considered losers or something like that. A year ago there were cheerios and football players in New Directions, so you never know who could be joining the club in the future."

The bell rang. Jess grabbed her school bag and put it on her shoulder.

"Ok, Mr. Schue, we'll try harder. I'm willing to recruit hundreds of students as long as we don't have to resort to cheerleaders and jocks to complete the group." Jess said smiling and leaving the room while Mr. Schue rolled his eyes.

Her friends chuckled and followed her. Being a "glee kid" was hard. Everyone in the school forgot about their existence except when they decided to pick on them. So why would Jess want to spend one of their favorite moments with cheerios and football players? She had no intention to be in the glee club with the people who mocked them.

Hannah and Cameron had told Jess about the slushies. They both had been slushied at the beginning of the year, shortly after they joined the glee club. Glee members were always slushied, just like they were in the previous group of New Directions. It was kind of a tradition at McKingley High.

"Speaking of jocks…" Jess said to her friends when they were walking through the hallway. A group of jocks were surrounding a black boy next to the lockers. The boy was wearing a red jacket and a purple scarf and he looked scared.

"What do you think about going with my friends and me to a little trip to the dumpster?" said one of the jocks in a mocking tone. He was a tall, strong boy with brown hair. His friends laughed and Jess recognized the tall, ugly jock that insulted a short boy some days before and the one with blue eyes and dark hair.

"Hey!" Jess shouted walking towards them. "Leave him alone!" She looked right in the eyes of the brown-haired jock that was pushing the black boy into the lockers with his arm.

The group of boys laughed at her.

"Stay away! This is none of your business!" he said.

"Well, IT IS of my business because I'm against bullying and you are a bunch of bullies messing with a poor kid that I'm sure didn't do anything to you. I don't like that, so: LEAVE HIM ALONE."

The jock laughed again.

"Well, it's not about what you like and what you don't like. It's about how things work here. We want to throw him in the dumpster so we do it."

"Oh, excuse me. I'm new in the school and I don't know about these prehistoric rules of yours." Jess said with an ironic voice and a fake smile.

"Oh, it's right! You're the new student that sang in the assembly. Hey, look guys! There's a new glee kid we haven't slushied yet!" he said looking at his friends. The boy that was being pushed against the lockers looked nervously from him to her. "We have a busy schedule right now," he told her pointing at the boy with his head "but maybe we can do that any other day."

"You are not throwing anybody to the dumpster while I am present!" she warned.

"Or…? What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Maybe I should fight with you." The boys laughed at the idea. "Seven guys messing with a smaller guy and throwing him in a dumpster, a boy hitting a girl… It doesn't make much of a difference. It's not like you have any kind of dignity or bravery anyways…"

The boys' smiles disappeared and they looked nervously around. Jess did too. They had drawn the attention of a lot of the students in the hallway. Jess saw the shock and fear of Cameron and Hannah's faces. The jock moved his arm away from the black boy.

"So…? Do you want to fight?" Jess said taking a step forward and looking at him.

He looked nervous because every student there was watching them.

"Okay. Okay. You win this time." he whispered. "But you should have stayed away of this. We'll have our revenge sooner or later." he said menacing her and he walked away with the rest of his group.

Jess smiled and looked at her friends who were still in shock.

"Are you ok?" Jess asked. The boy nodded silently. "What's your name?"

"Alex…" he whispered. He took a deep breath before continuing. "You… you shouldn't have done that. This is going to cause us many problems, to you and to me…"

Jess frowned at him.

"Well, if you want to be afraid of some idiots, be it, but I'm not going to allow more bullying when I see it. It's not a thing I can do. I can't help it." Jess said and then she started walking towards the exit doors.

"Wait, I'm sorry! I should have thanked you for defending me…" Alex said. "It's just that I'm shocked that someone has stood up for me. They've been picking on me since the beginning of the year for being… well, they didn't like me… You have saved me from another trip to the dumpster so: thank you."

"Don't thank me… Actually, I wanted to ask you for a favor." The boy raised his eyebrows curious. "Join the glee club."

"What? Are you insane? I have enough problems already. Why would I join the glee club?"

"Because it's fun, because we need people and because it could be your way of thanking me all I did."

Alex laughed. "So that was a really selfless help coming from you…" he joked.

"Ok. No. Let's be serious. It has nothing to do with what happened. This is just me asking you for a favor. My friends and I need to be twelve people to compete at Sectionals and we are now three. If we don't compete, they are cutting the glee club and glee club is the best part of being in this High School. Please, don't let that be taken away from us. Please, join. I'm sure you are a good singer."

"Oh, I'm a great singer, honey." he admitted proudly.

"Then join. Please. Please?" she begged him with a puppy face.

"Ok. Fine! I'll join. I was interested in joining when I saw you performing anyways…"

"So did you see us? Did you like it?"

"Oh, honey, you guys were amazing. I could swear I saw a couple of jocks tapping their feet at the song…"

Jess and Alex laughed and went out of the school with Hannah and Cameron following them slowly still in shock. When they arrived to the parking lot they said goodbye to Alex.

"Wow, Jess. You were really brave back there. I wouldn't have dared to say anything to them." Cameron said scratching his head.

"Yeah, you're much braver than all of them… and you got a new member for the club! That was awesome!"

Jess wasn't really paying much attention to them. She was looking at a tall, brown girl. She was carrying a lot of bags in her hands and she had problems to open the door of her car. Jess ran to help her.

"Let me help you." Jess said taking some of the bags.

"Oh, thank you. It's okay." she said when she finally opened one of the back doors of the car. "Thank you very much." she said with a beautiful smile while she put the bags inside the car.

"So… do you like music?" Jess asked.

"I'm sorry?" the girl said confused.

"You have a guitar in there." Jess explained pointing at the instrument that lay in the back seat of the car.

"Oh, yeah. I play guitar."

"Would you like to join the glee club?" Jess asked. Cameron and Hannah looked at her with wide eyes.

"What? That's insane! What can I bring to the glee club?"

"Well, you play the guitar so I guess that you like music."

"Well, yes…"

"Then join. If you like it why don't being a part of a club focused on music and singing? If you like it, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Ok, what is your name?"

"Mc… McKynleigh Abraham…"

"Ok, McKynleigh, we have glee club class tomorrow at four. Come with us and see what it is about, if you like music I can promise you that you are going to love it."

"I really don't know…" she said frowning a little bit.

"Come on, we need people. At least, think about it, ok?"

"Ok, I'll think about it." she said opening the front door. "Bye…"

"Jess."

"Bye, Jess, and thank you for everything. I'll think about glee club."

McKynleigh closed the door and drove the car out of the parking lot. Jess, Cameron and Hannah walked towards Cameron's car. When they got in they all started laughing and joking about how they had two more candidates to join the club.

Next day, Jess went early to the library. Her lab partner, Samuel, didn't show up to class, so Jess was doing their science project alone before it was too late. During the last weeks Jess had been looking for information in the school library and she always saw a pretty girl reading and studying there. That day the girl was also inside the library so Jess decided to ask her for help.

"Excuse me. I've seen you in here a lot. Do you know if there is any other book about genetics apart from these ones?" she asked pointing at her books.

The brunette girl turned her blue eyes away of her book and looked at Jess slowly. She stood up and approached a shelf full of thick books.

"These ones are really useful if you are doing a science project." she said picking two different books.

"Oh, great! Thanks! Do you have to do a science project too?" Jess asked.

"Yes. But I have already finished it." she said going back to her book.

"I always see you reading and studying a lot. Do you have a lot of homework?"

"Well, it's not exactly a lot, but I try to get the best marks possible so I spend a lot of time doing homework. Then, when I finish, I can start studying for the next exams. The sooner I start the most prepared I'll be."

Jess looked at her surprised.

"So… you are always in here between classes?"

"Oh, yes. I have a lot to study. I've joined all the clubs I could to improve my curriculum so I have a lot of things to do. I have to get the best marks so I can get to the best colleges." she explained.

"Umm… ok, great." Jess mumbled.

Jess took the books and spoke with the library lady to borrow them. Jess couldn't stop thinking that that girl was a bit obsessed with studying but she had to try telling her about the glee club. The day before she had told Alex and McKynleigh so, what could she lose?

"Umm… excuse me again." Jess said. "You said before that you are in a lot of clubs. Have you ever considered joining the glee club?"

"Oh, yes. I think I've heard of that club but I was already in the theatre club so… Although colleges usually give a lot of grants for art activities… What time it starts?" she asked after thinking out loud.

"Today it starts at four."

"Ok. I'll go." she confirmed and looked back at her book again. Jess was surprised by her quick response.

"If… if you want you can join my friends and me for lunch. Maybe you'll like to be out of the library for a while. You'll be welcomed." Jess proposed.

"Ok. See you there." the girl said without looking at her.

Jess walked out of the library still confused by the girl. However, they had a new member.

At lunch time Jess, Cameron and Hannah sat on the same table. Shortly after Alex joined them and they all started to talk about the glee club and New Directions. Jess saw the library girl entering the cafeteria and she waved at her.

"Hey, guys, this is the girl I told you about. Her name is…"

"Lindsay Pearce." she said.

They introduced themselves and they continued talking about glee. Lindsay had taken a book and was reading while she was eating.

"So, Lindsay, do you like to sing?" Cameron asked.

"I don't know. I don't sing very often. I sang at music class when I was a kid and I sang also a little bit in a school musical two years ago. But since then…" Lindsay explained.

"Ok, that is not really important. We like to have members even if they don't want to sing or if they can't." Hannah said.

"More solos for me!" Alex joked.

"So then, why did you decide to be part of New Directions?" Cameron asked again to Lindsay.

"I want to have more credits related to the arts. I'm already in the theatre club but I also participate in the yearbook, the school newspaper and the debating club. I tried to join the cheerios but Sue Sylvester didn't let me in. I guess I'm not athletic. It's a shame; I would like to have those credits…"

Jess chuckled when she saw her friends' expressions. They had the same reaction that she did that morning.

"So when do you have fun?" Hannah asked.

"Oh, I don't have time for that." Lindsay explained smiling and she continued reading.

The other kids looked at each other and started another telepathic conversation.

"Hey, guys."

"McKynleigh! How are you?" Jess exclaimed.

"Fine, fine. Thank you. I was thinking about joining you guys…" she said shyly.

"The lunch or the club?" Jess asked.

"Both?" she said smiling and taking a seat. "I always have lunch with my boyfriend and his friends from the basketball team, but I'm tired. I can't talk about anything I like with them. I think I have more things in common with you guys." she explained.

"Like glee club?" Jess asked smiling.

"Yeah. I've been thinking about it and I want to be in a group just like he is, you know? To have my own friends and my own passion."

"Of course, you are more than welcomed." Jess said smiling at her. "Your boyfriend could join too if he wants to. We need a lot of people to compete."

"No, I'd be okay with it, but he wouldn't join. He doesn't want to harm his reputation. I mean, it's not so weird for a girl to join but I guess it's worse seen if it is a guy…" Cameron cleared his throat. "No, I mean, I think is great for a guy to sing in the glee club, but he thinks his friends will make fun of him…" she explained nervous. She was worried that she could have offended Cameron.

Jess smiled when Cameron and McKynleigh started talking about music. She seemed a very nice girl. Alex did too and even Lindsay seemed a good girl despite her thing with good marks and college. The glee club was much bigger. Mr. Schue would be happy. Jess looked at her new friends and she saw a jock looking at her from another table. It was the one with blue eyes again. Next to him was the strong one that menaced her. He looked at her too and they started talking.

"Hey, Hannah, who is the boy that was bothering Alex yesterday?" she whispered to her pointing at him.

Hannah looked at the other table. All the football players and cheerios were sitting in the same place.

"He's Mark Karofsky. He's in junior year, just like us. Popular boy, big bully and quarterback of the football team. He's the one that slushied me and Cameron." she told Jess. "Almost all his family has come to McKinley High. His cousin was studying here just a couple of years ago and he was also in the football team. It's like a familiar thing…"

Jess nodded and listened to every word.

"And who's the other one?" Jess asked.

"Oh, he's Marissa's boyfriend. His name is Damian… oh, how was it?" Hannah wondered.

"Damian McGinty?" Lindsay asked. Jess and Hannah looked at her surprised she had stopped reading.

"No, it wasn't McGinty…" Hannah said. "Anderson! Damian Anderson. He's like the other star of the team. And they are buddies, of course."

"And who is Marissa?" Jess asked but Hannah seemed reluctant to answer.

"Marissa is the red-haired cheerio over there. She was our friend." Cameron answered, who had joined suddenly the conversation. "She was best friend of Hannah, but when we came to High School she joined the cheerleading team and she stopped hanging out with us and now she barely speaks to us." Cameron explained making Jess frown.

"Yeah, but she is not a bad person. Even if she is a cheerio now, she is really nice." Hannah argued.

"And how do you know if she barely speaks to you?" Jess wondered raising an eyebrow.

After lunch Cameron, Hannah and Jess told Mr. Schue the good news and they introduced to him the new members of the club. Things were getting better and they felt in the mood to sing a song in the auditorium.

**Alex:** _"Happiness, hit her like a train on a track" "Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back"_

**McKynleigh:** _"She hid around corners and she hid under beds" "She killed it with kisses and from it she fled"_

**Alex:** _"With every bubble she sank with a drink" "And washed it away down the kitchen sink"_

**McKynleigh:** _"The dog days are over, the dog days are done. The horses are coming so you better run"_

**New Directions:** _"Run fast for your mother run fast for your father" "Run for your children for your sisters and brothers" "Leave all your love and your longing behind" "You can't carry it with you if you want to survive"_

"_The dog days are over, the dog days are done. Can you hear the horses. 'Cause here they come"_

The glee members kept singing the final part of the song with Alex and McKynleigh as the lead vocals while the rest sang only in the choruses. They all were smiling and improvising some dance moves while Mr. Schuester was watching from the audience seats.

"That was wonderful!" Mr. Schue said when they finished.

"What do you think? Did you like it?" Jess asked to the new members.

McKynleigh and Alex laughed and told her they had a great time and they would love to be members of the club. Lindsay seemed more reluctant to sing but she seemed happy about been a part of New Directions. They all walked home when the bell rang.

"Are you coming?" Cameron asked to Jess pointing to the front doors with his head.

"You two go ahead." Jess told Cameron and Hannah. "I left my bag in the choir room and I have to go to the grocery store in my way home, so I'll go walking."

"Ok, then. See you tomorrow." Hannah said.

Jess waved at them and went to the choir room. She picked up her bag and heard a familiar voice when she entered the hallway.

"Hey, looser!" shouted Mark Karofsky.

Jess didn't even see him. Her eyes closed shot when she felt the icy drink all over her face and body.

"I told you we'll have our revenge. This is how things work here. You better keep shut when you see us doing anything or you'll have a slushy facial every day, do you understand?" he said. Jess knew he was close to her by the sound of his voice. "Come on, guys!" Jess could hear how he walked away followed by three or four people more.

Jess didn't move. She was completely paralyzed. That was the coldest she had ever felt. The ice slid down her hair and her arms. Her skin was burning because of the coldness and she couldn't move any muscle of her body. It tasted like strawberry. Her mouth was open so some drops of the drink went through her lips. She was frozen. They had thrown some slushies to her but the main reason she could not react was the humiliating feeling. That feeling was colder than ice.

"_Oh my God! Are you alright?_" said a deep, male voice.

Jess didn't answer. All she was able to do was to shake her arms so all the ice will drop.

"_Here. Let me help you._" said the voice.

"What…? Who…?"

"_No. Keep your eyes closed._" he said after Jess tried to open them to see who was there. "_If the drink reaches your eyes it will burn a lot for a while, trust me._"

Jess stood there without moving. The voice sounded like a boy's voice; probably he was a student there. However, he had a very peculiar accent. Jess thought that maybe he was an exchange student from Ireland or Great Britain. He had a very strong accent.

"_Come with me, we'll clean that slushy off_." he said grabbing her hand.

He guided her quickly through the hallways.

"Slow down! I can't see." she asked, but they stopped soon.

Jess heard water falling from a tap. Some seconds later she felt a hand stroking her head and removing the ice on her hair.

"_Who did this?_" the boy asked while he passed a wet towel through Jess' hair.

Jess snorted.

"That Karofsky boy and his friends."

"_I see._" the boy said.

Jess kept silent. The boy was very close to her and he kept cleaning locks of her hair. It was really nice of his but the situation was getting a little bit uncomfortable for her.

"Can I open my eyes now?" asked Jess.

"_Not until I remove the ice of your face._" he said.

His voice was very warm but it was making her nervous. They boy put a lock of her hair behind her ear carefully. Jess blushed and she felt her heart beating loudly in her chest. The two of them were in silence so Jess was begging for him not to hear it. A far noise interrupted the silence.

"_Well, take the towel, I- I actually have to go already, so… yes. See you!_" the boy said nervously putting the towel in her hands and walking quickly out of there.

"Wait!" she said but there was no response.

She took the towel and cleaned finally the ice of her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" another voice said.

Jess stopped rubbing her eyes and saw a boy standing in front of her. He was the short boy she had seen days ago. Jess noticed she wasn't in the girls' bathroom and she suddenly understood the boy's question.

"I'm sorry. Some jocks threw me slushies and a boy brought me here…" she explained cleaning the ice of her body.

"Man, that sucks!" said the boy. "I've never been slushied but I'm afraid it's going to happen, you know? They are always insulting me…"

Jess looked at him worried. She had seen how some people had insulted him because of his height.

"I'm Matheus, by the way."

"I'm Jess, nice to meet you." she said shaking his hand. "I guess we'll have to watch out from those jerks…"

"Yeah. I'm used to it anyways. People have picked on me since I was little so…" he sighed.

"Matheus, I'm just going to ask you right away: Would you join the glee club?"

"What?" he yelled surprised.

"Come on. We need people and we are kind of a family so we can protect each other…"

"Yes, but you guys are always slushied! I have enough problems already…"

"I'm just suggesting. We have got three new members since yesterday and they are all really nice. You could join or just hang out with us, you seem pretty cool too."

Two boys walked into the bathroom and looked at her curiously.

"Ok, just… think about it, ok?" Jess said walking out of the boys' bathroom.

"Ok." Matheus said.

The next day all glee kids were sitting at the same table at lunch time. Matheus approached and sat in one of the seats.

"Hey…"

"Hey!" Jess said. "Are you joining?"

"Yes. I've been thinking about it and, well, I've been kind of lonely this last month so I guess it would be ok to have some friends…" he confessed shyly.

"That's wonderful!" Jess exclaimed.

"Hey, Hannah!" said the cheerleader called Emily. She and Marissa were walking next to the table. "Nice steak. Keep on with that diet. I'm sure every boy in here is going to fall in love with you." she said and then giggled. Marissa looked at Hannah with a sad face but she followed Emily.

Hannah dropped her fork in the plate and blushed. Jess would have loved to say something to Emily but she was so shocked by her comment she actually couldn't form any word.

"Don't listen to her." Cameron said to his friend.

"I can't believe she said that to you!" Jess said indignant. "And the other girl who was your friend, she is not better than Emily, she didn't defend you…"

"Well, it's Emily the one that… Marissa is in reality a nice person." Cameron argued.

Jess was going to complain but Hannah talked first.

"You only say that because you like her!"

"Wh-… What? I don't like her!" Cameron said, but after he talked he looked at his plate and blushed.

Jess looked at Hannah worried. Even Lindsay was looking at her from the top of her book. Jess knew that Hannah was hungry but she was feeling guilty for eating so Jess decided to distract her with a different topic of conversation.

"Hey, Hannah, do you know if there is any Irish student at McKinley?"

Lindsay's blue eyes looked at Jess from behind her chemistry book.

"Irish student?" Hannah asked intrigued.

Jess told her all about the slushy from the day before and about the mysterious boy that helped her. Hannah and Lindsay listened curious to her story.

"I don't know." Hannah answered, eating her food again. "There are not Irish or British students in this High School as far as I know. But maybe he's new just like you." she suggested.

Jess nodded in silence. She was disappointed that there weren't any Irish boys in the school. She really wanted to know who was the boy that helped her after her first slushy.

_Notes:_

_Ok__ay__. That was an even longer chapter! But we got to know more characters. I hope you like the character of Jess and the new personalities of the other characters (like Lindsay's or Emily's) but it's fiction so they are not like the actual Glee Project contestants. I also hope you like the romantic storyline between Jess and the "Irish boy". And also, I have to say that I never insult people so the insults of the jocks and cheerios are kind of lame. I can't come up with anything better. XD. See you in the next chapter!_

**NEXT CHAPTER: THE LAST MEMBER**

_(P.S: I just want to remind you that English is not my first language so sorry again for all the mistakes and stylistic problems.)_


	3. Chapter 3

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 3/18: THE LAST MEMBER**

"Good afternoon and welcome you all to the first New Directions' special meeting before Sectionals!" Mr. Schuester exclaimed excited to all the glee members. "First of all, let me tell you who will be our competition this year. We'll be competing at Sectionals against… West Lima Academy and Hoover High School!" he said after reading the paper in his hands. "It's good to know we are not competing against Vocal Adrenaline or the Warblers but we cannot be over-confident."

"But what's the point, Mr. Schue? We cannot compete until we get five more members!" Alex complained.

The other kids nodded. They were meeting in the auditorium and all of them were sitting on the stage floor but Alex, who was sitting in the chair next to the piano. They all looked worried at their teacher. Mr. Schue seemed happy but they were only seven members so far: Cameron, Hannah, Alex, McKynleigh, Lindsay, Matheus and Jess. They had to be twelve people to go to Sectionals and if they didn't go, Mr. Figgins would be cutting the club.

"Then we have to get more people." the man said in an optimistic mood.

"But, Mr. Schue, today is Friday and Sectionals are next Friday evening. We only have one week!" Matheus argued.

"No, guys, Mr. Schue is right. We need to think we are going to get those five members and start practicing the numbers. We are going to Sectionals!" Jess told them. "I know it's seems impossible but we have to keep trying." she insisted.

Jess tried to cheer her friends up but she knew it was difficult to believe they'll get 5 members in a week. During the last two weeks they had done everything they could think about to recruit new people. One week after Matheus joined, New Directions did a girl number in the middle of McKinley High hallways. They dressed with 80's clothes and the girls sang _Girls just want to have fun _while the boys danced with them. They obviously got the attention of the students but still nobody joined. The following week Jess got Figgins' permission to interrupt the classes and they all sang _Thriller_ going from a class to another. Figgins was comprehensive and wanted to help them to get more members and what a better way of being liked than stopping classes? Lindsay, of course, wasn't too happy about it but they had a great time dancing around the school in zombie make-up. However, none of those performances had brought any new member and they had only one week left.

"Ok. Let's focus then in our set list. Next Friday, we'll have those new members. We'll do whatever it takes to get them, alright?" Mr. Schue said.

Glee kids smiled and nodded. They were happy that Mr. Schue was the director of the club. He always got to motivate them. After getting more optimism towards the competition they started to discuss the songs they would sing at Sectionals.

"Jess should sing the first number." Hannah said. "She has brought half of the people of the club."

"Yeah. And then we could do a group number next." Cameron added.

"No, guys." Jess told them. "I think you two should be the main singers in the first number. You have been in the club since the beginning of the year and, if it wasn't for you, the club would have already disappeared."

Hannah and Cameron looked at the floor embarrassed while everyone agreed with Jess. Then they all continued to discuss which songs they would sing and they did the first rehearsals.

On Monday, Jess arrived to science class and walked towards the teacher's desk. Once again Samuel didn't attend the class. Jess gave the teacher her science project but she didn't give Samuel away. He didn't collaborate in their project but Jess was willing to give him another chance before telling their teacher.

"Good job, Jess." the woman said.

"Thank you." she said with a smile in her face and then walked back to her seat at the end of the class.

"Jess, wait. I'm afraid to inform you that your project partner, Samuel, has been suspended for the next few days for breaking some school rules."

"But we have to do another project for within three weeks!" Jess complained.

After all that work, now that boy had been suspended and she would have to begin the next one alone again. She had spent the last weeks rehearsing for the glee club and writing her science project, so these were very bad news to her, even worse news now that there was so much tension about the glee club. Lindsay helped her a lot in the past project, however, but still…

"I know but, as I know that Samuel is a difficult student, I've decided to pair you off with another student this time." The teacher guided her to a free seat in the front row. "You'll do this project with Damian Anderson, he's a very good student so I hope there won't be any problems." the teacher explained.

Jess laughed to herself. She knew there will be problems. The boy with blue eyes looked at her in silence and Jess took the free seat. They spent the whole class listening to the woman in silence. He just looked at her sometimes but he didn't say anything. Jess was disappointed for having to work with him. He was a part of the group of jocks that bullied Alex and Matheus, he was Marissa's boyfriend and he was a friend of Emily and the boy that threw the slushies to her, Mark Karofsky. Jess thought she had the worst luck in that particular subject. The only good thing was that Damian would be a better student than Samuel, at least. When the bell rang she turned round to him to talk about the project.

"Ok, I thought we could do our project about what the teacher has explained today." Damian nodded in silence. "We can look for information and meet on Wednesday to put everything in common. What do you think?" she asked.

"It's… It's okay. I think it's a good idea. We'll talk on Wednesday then." he said.

"Great. See you then." she said with a serious expression.

She walked out of the class. She wasn't going to fight with Damian but she wasn't going to be extremely nice either. Jess walked to her next class thinking about how Damian's voice sounded familiar. It reminded her to the Irish boy's voice, but Damian was American and he didn't have that Irish accent. Jess would have to keep looking for the mysterious boy.

The following day, glee kids had rehearsal in the choir room. No one new had joined yet. After glee club Jess went to the library. She spent two hours documenting for the new science project. She and Damian would be meeting at his house on Wednesday. He had insisted in doing the project at her place but her parents were having visit so she couldn't bring him along. In her way home, Jess saw a couple kissing next to the cars of the parking lot. Jess looked at them again to confirm what she had glimpsed. Damian and Emily were kissing and Jess couldn't help but look at them with wide eyes. Emily stopped kissing Damian and she smiled at him, then she saw Jess. Damian saw Emily's look and he also turned his head to see Jess standing in the street still surprised. No one said anything. Jess looked away and she kept on walking. Obviously she didn't mind about what Damian or Emily did, but she knew perfectly that Damian was dating Marissa.

On Wednesday, Jess was going to Damian's house in the afternoon. She was thinking about glee club. They still needed five members to compete on Friday; it was going to be very difficult to get these five people but she couldn't give up. She arrived at Damian's house and rang the bell. A woman with dark hair opened the door.

"Mrs. Anderson? Hello, I'm Jess. I'm here to see Damian. We have to do a science project together."

The woman looked shocked but Jess couldn't tell why. She let her in, but she spoke with a very low voice so Jess barely heard her. The woman extended her arm and Jess heard the word "upstairs" so she walked to the first floor. When Jess climbed up the stairs she heard music coming from the first door to the left. It was open and Jess could hear a voice singing when she approached. Jess arrived to the room and looked inside.

**Damian:** "_Let's rock, everybody, let's rock." "Everybody in the whole cell block" "Was dancing to the jailhouse rock._"

Jess bit her lip to not burst out in laughter. The music was coming from Damian's laptop and he was standing next to his bed. He was singing and dancing like Elvis. Jess could only see his back because he was facing to the other side of the room. She leaned on the door frame and crossed her arms watching him with amusement. He was actually a good singer and he nailed Elvis moves, but Jess felt the urge to laugh because she could have never imagined that a jock like him would like to sing in his room. Jess kept watching him for a while with a big smile on her face.

**Damian**: "_Spider Murphy played the tenor saxophone" "Little Joe was blowing on the slide trombone" "The drummer boy from Illinois went crash, boom, bang…_"

Damian turned around while he played some invisible drums. He saw Jess standing on the door and froze. Elvis kept singing but Damian stopped and opened his blue eyes in panic.

"Keep going, please. I'm enjoying this." Jess said with a smirk.

Damian's white skin turned red and he ran to close his laptop.

"Mom!" he shouted angry and stormed out of the room.

Jess smiled and she began to get her papers out of her bag. Jess spent the following ten minutes watching the room wondering what was taking Damian so long. He finally returned, took some books and sat on the floor in front of Jess.

"I told you to give me a ring when you arrived." the boy reminded her.

"I forgot." she explained.

The girl was still giggling but Damian wanted to pretend nothing had happened. Damian began to explain to Jess the information he had found avoiding her eyes.

"… so, that's all I've found. What do you have?" he asked after his long explanation.

"You could join the glee club." Jess suggested ignoring his question.

"Never in a million years." he said firmly.

"Why? Because of your reputation? Come on! We need people!" Jess insisted.

"Just… Forget about what you just saw!" he said getting a little bit nervous.

Jess saw him blushing and waited in silence for a while.

"Well, just so you know, you were actually pretty good…"

"FORGET ABOUT IT!" Damian shouted looking her right in the eyes for the first time since he got back to the room.

Jess saw the fear and embarrassment in his blue eyes and she decided to stop insisting. Jess explained Damian all things she had found. They prepared the index of their project and picked which things they will explain and which things weren't important. Jess was surprised because she was actually having a nice time. Damian was actually pretty clever and he had very good ideas. They did a great part of the project in the two hours they had been working and, after that time, Jess went home worried again about the glee club.

Early in the morning, Jess received a text from Cameron. "_Urgent glee club meeting. I'll pick you up._" Jess got out of home and saw Cameron's car arriving. She got in and sat in the back seat behind Hannah. They arrived to the choir room fifteen minutes later.

"What's wrong Mr. Schue? Are we still going to Sectionals?" Cameron asked extremely worried as soon as he entered the room.

"Yes, we are. I'm actually telling the rest the good news." the teacher said pointing to the rest of the group that was already in the room.

"Which are the good news?" Jess asked trying to catch her breath.

"Figgins has been talking with the show choir organization in charge of Sectionals. He has explained them our situation and they will let us compete with ten members this time." every glee member gasped and smiled. "So that means we just need three more people instead of five. I wanted to tell you this early so you can have all day to find three people for tomorrow. We have rehearsed a lot so we won't have glee club this afternoon. I want you to focus only in getting those three members, alright?"

Everyone celebrated the good news and cheered.

"Ok, Hannah, you definitely have to ask Marissa." Cameron said. "She was your best friend and if she cares just a little bit for you she will do you that favor. For old times' sake."

Hannah doubted but then she agreed to try.

At science class, Jess took the free seat next to Damian again. They barely talked and Jess couldn't really focus on the lesson. Could she find a way to get Damian to join New Directions?

"Damian…" she whispered close to his ear. "We need three people more for Sectionals. Please join."

Damian chuckled a little. The class door opened. It was Samuel arriving late. He seemed to be back in the school after his suspension.

"I'm not joining the glee club." Damian stated also whispering.

Jess frowned at him.

"Please join or… Join or I will tell everybody about the Elvis number in your room!" she whispered, making Damian blush a little.

"Who's going to believe that?" Damian said ending the conversation.

When the bell rang Jess grabbed Samuel's arm.

"Ok, Samuel, hear me out. I did by myself our entire project and still didn't say anything to our teacher. We need new members in glee club for tomorrow so you have to join or I will tell everything to her." she told him angry and menacing him with her finger.

Samuel puffed.

"I'm pretty sure she already knows." he said and he started walking again.

"Then, how about this? I'll do all your science projects for the rest of the year even if we are not in the same group. You'll pass the whole subject without doing anything."

Samuel stopped and looked at her.

"And what exactly I would have to do tomorrow?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

"You just have to come to Sectionals. You just need to get in the bus, sway in the background while we sing and then go back to the bus. That's it!" the girl explained.

"Ok. Deal. But you better do those projects."

"Fine." she said a bit upset for all she had promised. "Come tomorrow to the choir room at three."

Samuel left. They had now one more member and counting with Marissa, two, if Hannah was able to convince her. They only needed one more. Jess looked for people in the hallway. She didn't know anyone there, who could she convince? The cheerleader coach, Sue Sylvester, walked through the hallway with Emily, the cheerleader captain, behind her.

"That's it!" Jess mumbled.

Jess looked for him in all the hallways. She finally found him taking books from his locker. Jess grabbed the door of the locker and closed it.

"Ok, you have to join the glee club."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Damian asked. "I already told you I wouldn't join."

"If you don't join, I will tell Marissa that you kissed Emily."

Damian looked around scared that someone could have heard. Karofsky was looking at them from his locker.

"Science project." Damian told him and Mark looked back at his own locker.

"You can't tell her that. I didn't even kiss Emily. I had anything to do with it. She was the one that kissed me." he explained nervously in whispers.

"_And who's going to believe that_?" Jess said.

Damian looked at her in disbelieving and moving his head slowly from one side to another. After some seconds of looking at the floor trying to think he gave up.

"Ok, fine, I'll join your group but just for tomorrow." he whispered. "But it must be an absolute secret. No one can know about it."

"Fine." Jess said smiling. "Do we have a deal?"

Damian shook her hand with an angry expression in his face.

Jess, Hannah and Cameron rushed into Schuester's office.

"Mr. Schue, we have three more members for Sectionals."

_Notes:_

_Hahaha, I'm having fun writing this fanfic! This was a shorter chapter and it was more like a transition. If you are confused by some things don't worry, everything will make sense in the future. ;) _

_I'm so glad there are people reading my first fanfic! That's basically the reason I posted this chapter so soon! By the way, you can give me song suggestions for the characters to sing. I know everything that is going to happen in the story but there are some songs that I haven't chosen yet._

_I'll try to post as quickly as possible and I could post some "spoilers" if you want to. XP_

_Feel free to tell me what you think about the story and thank you for reading!_

**NEXT CHAPTER: SECTIONALS**


	4. Chapter 4

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 4/18: SECTIONALS**

The short hand of the clock pointed to three. Every glee member was inside the choir room packing everything they needed. Jess looked at the clock impatiently and tapped her foot nervously. Marissa and Samuel had already arrived and Alex was showing the steps and the choreography to them. Damian had not showed up and it was already three o'clock. The bus was already waiting outside and Jess hadn't even told her friends who the last member was. Jess got out of the choir room and waited in the hallway. The main door opened and Damian walked in. Jess looked at him with a wide smile and bright eyes.

"You came." Jess said still in disbelieving.

"Yeah, whatever." he mumbled looking away. "What do I have to do?" he asked.

"Right. We are doing two numbers. You'll be standing in the back row between me and Marissa. You can look at me if you don't know the steps. You also can sing if you want to but "

"Wait, wait. Marissa is in the glee club?" Damian asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, she joined beca-"

"Did you tell her I'll come?" he asked raising his voice.

"Well, not yet…" Jess said confused. Damian was getting very nervous.

"I can't believe it! You told me it would be a secret!" he said angrily waving his arms.

"Well, not for those in glee, obviously…" Jess explained.

"This is bullshit! It was supposed to be a secret! Marissa…" he complained walking from one side of the hallway to another with his hands resting on his head. Jess was worried. Damian finally stopped walking and put down his arms. "I can't do this." he said.

"But…"

"I can't do it." he repeated and then ran away.

Damian left Jess standing alone in the hallway with the panic and concern beginning to invade all her body. Jess walked slowly through the empty hallway and walked into the choir room.

"Is the last member finally here?" Schuester asked to her while putting some CDs in his bag.

Everyone looked at her. She knew her face was turning pale before speaking.

"He's not coming." she whispered looking at any place in particular.

Nobody said anything. Everyone looked at her with worried expressions.

"What?" Hannah said finally.

"What are we going to do?" Lindsay asked.

"Well, let's get on the bus, guys. We have to show up at Sectionals even if we cannot perform. I'll tell the judges." Mr. Schue said. "It's okay, Jess. You did all you could." he said rubbing the girl's shoulder.

Jess was still standing there, incapable of saying or doing anything.

"Oh, no, we have to perform. We are not giving up." McKynleigh said grabbing her phone without giving more explanations.

Her friends looked at her surprised. McKynleigh used to be the shy girl so it was a little bit shocking to see her so decided and angry. All glee members walked to the bus.

"… no, I don't care… Yes, but… Bryce, I'm telling you, if you don't come… Just take your car and come quickly…" they could hear her telling to the phone.

They got on the bus and Samuel seated next to Jess.

"Ok. I've talked with my boyfriend and I've convinced him to come." McKynleigh explained to all of them ten minutes after the bus driver had started driving them to Sectionals. "The problem is that I don't know if he is going to arrive on time…" she added worriedly.

"That's fantastic McKynleigh, thank you so much." Mr. Schue said.

"And how did you convince him?" Hannah asked her. "Wasn't he too concerned about his reputation?"

"Well, I explained him our situation… and basically told him I would break up with him if he didn't come…" the girl explained.

Everyone laughed. McKynleigh was always shy but they were glad she was tough when they needed it.

"Well, if we don't perform. I guess you have made the best deal ever." Jess told Samuel.

He smirked looking at the dreadlocks he held in his hand.

"What are you thinking about?" Jess asked him.

"Well, I didn't know you guys were going to sing songs like those… They are actually cool…" he confessed.

"Why? Did you believe that glee kids only sang songs that were lame or something like that?" Jess asked to him smiling.

They rehearsed the songs a couple times more on the bus. When they arrived to Sectionals they found out they were the second ones to perform. They dressed up and waited nervously in the waiting room.

"Sorry I'm late." said a very tall boy with brown hair after entering the room.

McKynleigh ran to hug him and she told him to dress up. After he finished, McKynleigh and Matheus showed to him the steps of the choreography. However, Mr. Schue came to the room soon and told them they had to go to the stage.

"I'm Bryce, by the way." the boy said realizing he had not even introduced himself.

The rest of the group laughed and it turned out to be useful in order to get their nerves away before the performance. They walked to the stage. Everyone wished luck to the rest and they got in their positions. In the front row were Hannah and Cameron. Behind them were Lindsay, Alex, Matheus and McKynleigh and in the last row, from left to right, were Samuel, Marissa, Bryce and Jess. The curtains went up and the number began.

**Matheus:** _"Can…"_

**New Directions:** _"…anybody find me somebody to love?"_

The lights turned brighter and Hannah and Cameron moved forward moving away from the group. The rest of the glee kids did the first steps of the choreography while they were singing the song.

**Hannah:** _"Oooh each morning I get up I die a little" "Can barely stand on my feet"_

**Cameron:** _"Take a look in the mirror and cry" "Lord what you're doing to me"_

**Hannah:** _"I have spent all my years in believing you" "But I just can't get no relief, Lord!"_

**Cameron:** _"Somebody, uh somebody"_

**Hannah and Cameron:** _"Can anybody find me somebody to love?"_

Hannah and Cameron were doing great, so much better than in the school assembly. They both were confident and they were having a good time. Marissa and Bryce kept on looking at Jess and McKynleigh to remember the steps. Jess thought they were doing great too, having in mind they had rehearsed so little. Jess saw that Samuel was even singing along.

**Cameron:** _"I work hard…"_

**New Directions:**_ "He works hard"_

**Cameron:**_ "…every day of my life" "I work till I ache my bones" "At the end…"_

**New Directions**_: "At the end of the day"_

**Cameron:**_ "…I take home my hard earned pay all on my own!"_

**Hannah:** _"I get down on my knees and I start to pray" "Till the tears run down from my eyes"_ _"Oh, somebody"_

**Hannah and Cameron:** _"Uuuh somebody!" "Can anybody find me somebody to love?"_

**Cameron:**_ "Oh every day, I try and I try and I try" "But everybody wants to put me down" "They say I'm going crazy"_

**Hannah:**_ "They say I got a lot of water in my brain" "Got no common sense I got nobody left to believe. Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh"_

**New Directions:**_ "Uh, uh, uh…"_

**Hannah and Cameron:** _"Oh somebody, oh somebody" "Can anybody find me somebody to love?"_

**New Directions:**_ "Anybody find me somebody to love"_

**Cameron:**_ "Got no feel, I got no rhythm"_

**Hannah:**_ "I just keep losing my beat"_

**New Directions:**_ "She just keeps loosing…"_

**Hannah:**_ "I'm ok, I'm alright"_

**New Directions:**_ "He's alright, he's alright"_

**Cameron:**_ "Ain't gonna face no defeat"_

**Hannah and Cameron:**_ "I just gotta get out of this prison cell" "Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord!"_

Hannah and Cameron sang while smiling to each other. They were enjoying it. They all were. Jess looked at the crowd and saw everyone in the audience smiling. The glee kids began to walk through the stage. Jess guided the new members to their positions.

**New Directions:** _"Find me somebody to love" "Find me somebody to love" "Find me somebody to love" "Find me somebody to love" "Find me somebody to love" "Find me somebody to love" "Find me somebody to love" "Find me somebody to love" "Love, love" "Find me somebody to love" _

**Jess: **_"Oooh" _

**New Directions:**_ "Find me somebody to love" _

**New Directions:**_ "Somebody" "Somebody" "Somebody" "Somebody" "Somebody" "Somebody"_

**Matheus:**_ "Find me, find me somebody to love"_

**New Directions:**_ "Can anybody find me…"_

Alex took a step forward and sang his heart out.

**Alex:**_ "…somebody to looooooooooooooove?"_

**New Directions:**_ "Find me… somebody toooo…"_

**Hannah**_: "Somebody find me"_

**Cameron:**_ "Find me"_

**Hannah:**_ "Somebody find meeeee"_

**New Directions:**_ "Find me"_

**Alex:**_ "Somebody to love"_

**Cameron:** "_Somebody, somebody, somebodyyy…"_

**Hannah:** "_Somebody to love_"

**McKynleigh: **"_Uuuuuh_"

**Jess: **"_Somebody to love_"

**Matheus:** "_Somebody to love"_

**New Directions:** "_Toooooo love_"

**Hannah:** "_Find me somebody tooooooooo…_"

**Cameron and Hannah:** "_…looooove!_"

They finished the song with their arms raised. All the audience was clapping, including the judges. Jess looked curious at the new members. They all were smiling. They seemed to be having a good time. They changed quickly their positions to perform the next number and the music started.

**Matheus:** "_Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time" "I feel alive" "And the world, I'll turn it inside out yeah" "I'm floating around in ecstasy" "So…"_

**New Directions:**_ "…don't stop me now" "Don't stop me"_

**Matheus and New Directions:**_ "'cause I'm having a good time" "Having a good time"_

After his terrific performance, Matheus moved to a side of the stage and McKynleigh walked forward._  
_**  
McKynleigh**_: "I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky" "Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity" "I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva" "I'm gonna go go go there's no stopping me" "I'm burning through the sky yea" "Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit" "I'm travelling at the speed of light" "I wanna make…" _

**New Directions**_: "…a supersonic man out of you" _

All glee members were having a lot of fun. It was an entertaining performance and it included very fun dance moves. It was so amusing that they didn't care about the steps anymore. Marissa and Bryce didn't follow the choreography but they didn't mind.

**New Directions**_: "Don't stop me now"_

**Matheus**_: "I'm having such a good time" "I'm having a ball"_

**New Directions**_: "Don't stop me now"_

**Matheus**_: "If you wanna have a good time" "Just give me a call"_

**New Directions**_: "Don't stop me now"_

**Matheus:**_ "'cause I'm having a good time"_

**New Directions**_: "Don't stop me now"_

**Matheus:**_ "Yes I'm having a good time" "I don't wanna stop at all"_

Alex walked to the front part of the stage while the audience was dancing in their seats. He sang while dancing with some sassy movements.

**Alex**_: "I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars" "On a collision course" "I am a satellite" "I'm out of control" "I'm a sex machine ready to reload" "Like an atom bomb about to oh oh oh oh oh…"_

**New Directions**_: "…explode!"_

Jess saw Mr. Schue laughing. She loved it because the number was supposed to be very fun.

**Alex:**_ "I'm burning through the sky yeah" "Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit" "I'm travelling at the speed of light" "I wanna…" _

**New Directions**_: "…make a supersonic woman of you" "Don't stop me, don't stop me, don't stop me"_

**Matheus**_: "hey hey hey!"_

**New Directions**_: "Don't stop me don't stop me ooh ooh ooh"_

**Matheus**_: "I like it"_

**New Directions**_: "Don't stop me don't stop me"_

**Matheus**_: "Have a good time good time"_

**New Directions**_: "Don't stop me don't stop me"_

**Matheus:**_ "ohhhhhhh!"_

Cameron took his guitar from the back part of the stage and played the guitar solo. The people in the audience stood up and clapped. They kept on dancing with the music through the final part of the song.__

**Matheus**_: "ohhhhhhh" "Burning through the sky yeah" "Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit" "I'm travelling at the speed of light" _

**New Directions**_: "I wanna make a supersonic man out of you" "Don't stop me now" _

**Matheus:**_ "I'm having such a good time" "I'm having a ball"_

**New Directions**_: "Don't stop me now"_

**Matheus**_: "If you wanna have a good time" "Just give me a call"_

**New Directions:**_ "Don't stop me now" "'cause I'm having a good time" "Don't stop me now" "Yes I'm having a good time"_

**Matheus**_: "I don't wanna stop at all!"_

The audience applauded and cheered excited. Glee members smiled happily after seeing people's reaction to their performance. Mr. Schue clapped from the audience and the curtains closed soon. Everyone ran to the waiting room and they all congratulated each other. They all had sung amazingly and Cameron's guitar solo was incredible. The new members had some problems with the choreography but still the performance was breathtaking.

After the performance of the third group, the three glee clubs were in the stage again waiting to receive the first prize and being able to go to Regionals. One of the judges opened the envelope with the name of the winner. They all were holding hands waiting for the results.

"And in the first place: New Directions!" the judge said.

Jess hugged Lindsay and they all gathered to raise the trophy. Even Marissa, Bryce and Samuel seemed excited. But of course they were. They had won Sectionals!

However, when they got back to McKinley, everything went to normal. They were invisible to the rest of the students and nobody cared about them winning Sectionals. Nobody but Figgins, who promised to not cut the club that year. Despite the good news, glee members were a little bit sad because none of the new members that performed at Sectionals wanted to stay in the glee club any longer. All glee kids were surprised about this because they knew Marissa, Samuel and Bryce had enjoyed being in the club. It was always "their reputation" that got on the way.

"Alright! We did it!" Mr. Schue said placing the trophy in the choir room. "Now we have more time to prepare for Regionals. They won't let us participate with just ten members again, but let's not worry about that right now. We have to celebrate our victory!"

The glee club kids walked through the hallways very happy after glee club that day. They were talking excitedly when a group of jocks blocked their way. They all held plastic glasses in their hands.

"I feel so embarrassed right now." Mark Karofsky said. "I can't believe I haven't congratulated you for winning Sectionals yet. Let's make a toast, don't you think?"

All glee kids closed their eyes and received the drinks in their faces and chests. Jess, Cameron and Hannah had already been slushied but the rest of them were shocked by that humiliating feeling for the first time.

"Now that you won Sectionals we've got another whole year to make fun of your stupid club. Congratulations!" Mark said with a big smile. "Hey, why haven't you thrown yours?" he asked Damian.

Jess looked at him curiously. His glass was still full of blue slushy.

"I… she… She's my lab partner…" he argued not very convinced.

"So?" Mark asked. "That will never be an excuse." Damian looked uncomfortable. "Come on! Throw it to her!"

Jess looked at the tall boy right in his blue eyes. He looked at her too and then at the glass. After some seconds of doubts he threw the slushy right into Jess' face. She closed her eyes and the jocks laughed stupidly and walked away.

"Oh my God, that was incredibly cold!" McKynleigh complained in the girls' bathroom.

"My eyes are burning!" added Lindsay.

Jess was cleaning herself in silence. She was still shocked that Damian had thrown to her the drink. She thought for a moment he wouldn't do it. He was so nice when they were working in their science project but the rest of the time he was the biggest of jerks. Like when he stood her up just minutes before Sectionals.

When they all got out of the bathrooms Matheus gave Jess an extra jacket he kept in his locker for cases like that.

"There you go. You must be really cold." he said seeing that she was only wearing a t-shirt.

"Thank you, Matheus. You're really nice." she said.

"Ok… listen, maybe this seems weird but… would you like to go with me to breadsticks someday, so we can get to know each other apart from the glee club?" He asked nervously.

"Umm… ok, that would be fine." she said shyly.

"Great. See you then." he said quickly and then walked home.

Jess was surprised by the boy's question but she liked the idea of going on a date with him. He was very kind and very funny. She would like to know him better.

On Thursday Jess had science class again and one more time she sat next to her project and lab partner. She and Damian stared at the blackboard waiting for the class to begin. After all that happened two days before, they were quiet during the whole class. After the bell rang at the end Damian spoke to Jess finally.

"You didn't tell Marissa, did you?"

Jess turned to him with hate radiating from her eyes.

"No, Damian. I didn't tell Marissa, and I didn't tell the glee club about you leaving before Sectionals either. I keep my promises and I know it must be difficult for you to realize but not everybody is as despicable as you are."

Jess stormed out of the class angry at her class partner. She hated him so much...

_Notes:_

_Ok. One more chapter finished. I hope you guys are enjoying it. This chapter was full of songs but next chapters will have more character development and they are very interesting. Chapter 6, especially, is one of my favorites._

_I'm seeing a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes in previous chapters so I'll probably correct some things tomorrow. For the curious ones, the songs that appeared in the fanfic are: Don't stop believing, Gold digger, Dog days are over, Jailhouse rock, Somebody to love and Don't stop me now. I've also mentioned Ice, ice baby, Thriller and Girls just want to have fun. Remember to listen to the songs while reading the fanfic. It would help you to imagine everything better._

_Ok, I'm sleepy now so I'm going to bed. If I remember anything else to say I'll post an update. Good night and thank you for reading! 3_

**NEXT CHAPTER: DAMIAN'S SECRET**


	5. Chapter 5

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 5/18: DAMIAN'S SECRET**

**Jess' P.O.V.**

It was Saturday in the afternoon and Jess was tidying her room up. Damian would be arriving in a few minutes. Jess prepared the books and some papers with all the information she needed. The sooner they'd finish their science class work, the better. After weeks of not speaking to him, Jess finally told him to come to her house to finish the project. They had to hand it in on Monday. She was still angry at him for abandoning her before Sectionals and throwing the slushy to her and her friends. She would have liked to not have any kind of contact with him since all that happened but they had to finish the class project. They would be spending only the strictly necessary time together to do that and then they would go back to their completely different lives.

The bell rang and Jess opened the main door. Damian was in the other side scratching the back of his head.

"Hi…" he said in a very low voice.

"Hi. Come upstairs with me, let's get this thing over as soon as possible." she said in a very sharp tone.

They both went to Jess' room and sat on the floor. Damian began to take some notebooks out of his school bag.

"We did half of the work that last time we met at your home so we only have to do the last part…" Jess reminded him, in case he had forgotten.

Jess began to say out loud what they should write next but Damian interrupted her.

"I… sorry but I've already written the next parts of the project actually…" Jess frowned at him without understanding. "I thought you wouldn't want to meet again so I just thought about finishing it on my own…" he explained shyly and he gave her the sheets with all he had written.

Jess took the papers still confused and began to read. At first, she opened her eyes in surprise but immediately she tried to hide her reactions. Damian had actually done a pretty good job. He added some interesting facts and a lot of things she didn't knew. He was clever despite being such an idiot after all.

"Yeah. We could use that, I guess." she said trying to not look impressed.

Damian smiled and they kept on writing the remaining parts. After one hour of work they started to talk about their teachers and classmates. Jess even started to smile when Damian made a short impersonation of their science teacher. They both were smiling after that. Jess didn't understand how could he be the same person that the Damian from McKinley. He was so nice when he wasn't in High School with his friends from the football team. Could he be a secret twin brother? The one that was funny and clever instead of the jerk one?

"Hey, Damian, you are popular and stuff. I guess you know a lot of people, right?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Why?" he answered giving her a questioning look.

"It's…" she didn't really know how to explain it. "I have been wondering…" she explained slowly with a growing smile forming in her face. "Do you know any Irish students in the school?" she asked finally.

"No." he answered after a brief pause. "I think there are no Irish students at McKinley… why did you want to know?"

"For nothing. I think I heard that there was one… Nothing important. I must be wrong."

Jess smiled but she was a little bit disappointed that there wasn't an Irish boy in the school. She would really like to find him again.

"Ok. We have finished." she said changing the subject after a moment of silence. "Could you do the bibliography and print everything, I still have to finish Samuel's project. I promised him. Do you know Samuel?"

"What?" he asked. He had been distracted.

"Do you know Samuel?" she repeated.

"Yes. Yes. He goes to our class, right?"

"Yes. He joined the glee club for Sectionals and now I have to do all his projects…" Jess said.

"Wow. That sounds awful." he commented.

"At least he joined and helped us, not like you." Jess reminded to him.

"I guess I will have to conform with the Elvis dancing at my room…" he joked smiling.

Jess laughed briefly and Damian showed a huge smile in response. He had a beautiful smile. Jess looked at the floor, she didn't want to laugh at his joke. She was being too nice.

"Oh…" Damian began saying, looking at the floor too. "I wish I would have met you one year ago…"

Jess looked at him serious this time. What had he meant? What did that mean? Jess felt suddenly bad about herself. Had she forgotten everything that had happened? Why was she being so nice to him? He didn't deserve it. He was Damian Anderson. He was a bully. He was one of the popular kids at school. So popular he didn't want to share his talent because it could harm his reputation. Jess even felt a little pity for him. And he had slushied her! How could she forgive that? How could she laugh at his jokes after all he had done? Jess hated him. And he had just said that… Did he like her? Jess thought she was maybe imagining things but she could see it in his face at that moment. He was smiling and looking at his feet embarrassed. He had a girlfriend and he had been kissing Emily in the parking lot! For a moment she had forgotten all she hated about him because he acted like a total different person but she was remembering everything. That was it.

"I'll be doing next project with Samuel again." she said and he looked at her surprised with his big blue eyes very open. "It's fine if you want to throw me a slushy to please your Neanderthal friends but I can't let you do that to my friends." Jess took a deep breath. "You act as if you were a nice person but you are not. Sometimes I forget. You should look for another partner for the next project." she finished with a serious expression.

Damian didn't say anything. Finally, he left after some awkward goodbyes.

**Damian's P.O.V.**

Damian was walking to Jess' house. The previous day was the first time Jess had talked to him in weeks. They would be finishing their science project and she volunteered to do that in her place. He felt a bit uncomfortable around her. Hopefully, it wouldn't be so bad that day. In class she looked at him angrily all the time and she always ignored the few words he said to her. But Damian could understand it. He felt guilty about the slushy incident so he took Jess silence as a punishment for his behavior. However, he missed talking to her. Not that they were friends or anything but he liked talking to her, even if they only talked about things related to school.

Damian arrived at her house. It was a big white house with the greenest garden, the typical American house. He rang the bell and saw Jess opening the door.

"Hi…" he said in a very low voice.

"Hi. Come upstairs with me, let's get this thing over as soon as possible." she said in a very sharp tone.

Damian followed her to her room. He was a little bit intimidated by her. He knew she was mad at him; she didn't even try to hide it. Hopefully, she wouldn't yell at him or start a fight. After all, he enjoyed spending time with her.

They arrived to Jess' room and they sat on the floor. It was a beautiful room with movies and music posters that fitted Jess' personality perfectly. He liked it.

"We did half of the work that last time we met at your home so we only have to do the last part…" Jess reminded him, but Damian already knew that.

Jess began to say out loud what they should write but Damian had already been working on the project so he stopped her.

"I… sorry but I've already written the next parts of the project actually…" Jess frowned at him. "I thought you wouldn't want to meet again so I just thought about finishing it on my own…" he explained showing to her all he had written.

Jess spent some minutes reading it.

"Yeah. We could use that, I guess." she said.

Damian smiled. He knew she was pretending not being surprised. He had put a lot of effort in doing the project as best as he could but Jess didn't want to admit she liked it. They continued working during another hour and they started talking animatedly. Jess seemed more relaxed and she forgot to speak to him with the sharp, cold tone. She even was starting to smile and he was happy about that. He would like to be Jess' friend. He had always admired her since he met her. Whenever she defended her friends and faced the jocks, Damian felt a great respect for her. That was probably related to all what had happened to him.

"Hey, Damian, you are popular and stuff. I guess you know a lot of people, right?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Why?" he answered giving her a questioning look.

"It's… I have been wondering… Do you know any Irish students in the school?" she asked.

Damian looked at her trying to hide the surprised expression of his face. Had she really asked that? Damian swallowed hard before answering.

"No."

Of course he did. He was the school's Irish student. He was the one that helped her cleaning off the slushy Mark threw to her. But he couldn't tell her that after all he had done. He couldn't tell her his biggest secret.

"I think there are no Irish students at McKinley…" he lied. "Why did you want to know?"

He was really curious about this. Why was she interested in the Irish student?

"For nothing. I think I heard that there was one… Nothing important. I must be wrong."

Damian knew Jess was lying. Jess knew him from that time she was slushied and he found her in the hallway. He left his guard down that day. He had been close to blow everything up.

All had started the year before. Damian's family travelled from Ireland to America the previous year. His father got a new job in the country and all the family had to move to Lima. It wasn't the best place in the world but it wasn't that bad either, or at least, that's what Damian thought before he went to McKinley High School. When he started his sophomore year at the school everything changed. Damian arrived home every day with bruises in all his body. He was constantly being pushed against the lockers by the jocks of the school. When he wasn't pushed into the lockers, he was thrown into the dumpsters or he was locked in the mobile restrooms next to the football field. They usually stole all his lunch money too and they slushied him very often. Whenever he complained the bullies beat him up and he came home with even more bruises. And it wasn't just football players all he hated about that High School. He spent the whole year completely alone. He felt completely invisible and everyone ignored him. He spent all the time alone and he ate in hidden corners of the High School trying to hide from the bullies. Everyone mocked him because of his looks too. Back then, he was much shorter and weaker that now. He wore glasses and braces and he had an oily skin and acne problems. Besides all the insults he received constantly because of the way he looked, they were always mocking his Irish accent. After months of mocking and being bullied he finally got used to the situation and he learnt to stay away of everyone in the High School. He spent the lunchtime alone hiding and the rest of the time he had to be there he went to the school library and borrowed lots of books to read in between classes. That entire situation made him extremely unhappy but he learnt a lot from all that reading. He would make sure his next year wouldn't be so miserable. When the summer came he started to change. He began doing exercise and working out, he wanted to join McKinley football team. They were like the elite of the High School, if he got in the football team, no one would mess with him. Damian also got rid of his glasses and the dentist removed his braces that particular summer too. He had changed so much physically. He had grown over the summer, he was stronger and he even had muscles and, after daily anti pimple cream, he was actually good looking. Cheerios wouldn't call him four eyes never again. However, he was still Irish. He spent days in his room practicing his American accent, he had always been good at impressions so he only would need a little practice so when he got back to McKinley, no one would be able to find out he was from Ireland. In fact, he used his computer skills to make sure no one would ever find out. He broke into the school one night and changed all the existence information about Damian McGinty, his real name. Since that day on, he would be Damian Anderson, from Ohio. All he had to do is to separate his school life from his family so no one would find out.

When he got back to McKinley no one recognized him. It wasn't just that he had changed so much; it was that nobody really cared about him last year. Damian McGinty had had no friends so nobody would be able to discover his lie. Everything went so well for him that year. It was all so different. Shortly after he began his junior year, Coach Beiste admitted him in the football team and he become one of the best players and one of the team stars. The jocks that used to throw him into the dumpster were now his friends, but he was not looking for revenge. He just wanted to go through High School without being so extremely unhappy. Soon he caught the attention of one beautiful cheerleader and they started dating. Who would have imagined he would be dating one of the most popular girls in High School? However, he had to keep her away from his house and family. If she met his parents, she would discover he was Irish and if his parents met any High School student they would find out he was pretending to be American. In fact, everything had been close to be discovered when Jess went to his house. He didn't know why, but Jess didn't notice his mother's Irish accent when she came to his house to do their science project. He had been lucky but his mother was starting to suspect something. She caught him once talking to Marissa on the phone with American accent and when Jess came to their house his mother had asked to him why did she called her Mrs. Anderson. He tried to make excuses but she didn't seem to believe Damian. And Jess was also the one that was close to find out when he founded her after her first slushy and his Irish accent came out of nowhere. He didn't know why he spoke with Irish accent but, fortunately for him, she had her eyes closed because of the ice and she didn't know it was him.

After all his work during the summer, after all he had achieved, he couldn't tell anyone. It would ruin everything.

"… you know Samuel?"

"What?" he asked. He had been distracted thinking.

"Do you know Samuel?" she repeated.

"Yes. Yes. He goes to our class, right?"

"Yes. He joined the glee club for Sectionals and now I have to do all his projects…" Jess said.

"Wow. That sounds awful." he commented.

"At least he joined and helped us, not like you." Jess reminded to him.

"I guess I will have to conform with the Elvis dancing at my room…" he joked smiling.

Jess laughed briefly. He loved it. He was making her laugh. She had the most beautiful smile. Damian didn't know what Jess had but, when he was with her, he felt like he didn't have to fake anything. He could be himself, well, almost, but he didn't have to pretend to like things he didn't or pretend to be the popular jock of the school. But the thing he liked the most about her was how she cared about her friends and everyone in the school. She was always defending them and she wasn't afraid of anything. Maybe if she had come to the school a year before he wouldn't have been so alone and she would have been there to protect him.

"I wish I would have met you one year ago…" he said.

He really did. Everything would have been so much better. They could have been friends back then. Damian was beginning to think he liked her.

"I'll be doing next project with Samuel again." she said and he looked at her surprised with his big blue eyes very open. "It's fine if you want to throw me a slushy to please your Neanderthal friends but I can't let you do that to my friends." Jess took a deep breath. "You act as if you were a nice person but you are not. Sometimes I forget. You should look for another partner for the next project." she finished with a serious expression.

Damian didn't say anything. Why was she suddenly sharp again? Had he done anything? Damian didn't want her to change of partner. He felt so good being around her. He would love to spend more time with her. If they weren't science project partners anymore, he wouldn't have any excuse to see her.

After saying goodbye, he left her house and walked home feeling sad.

_Notes: _

_Alright! I finally finished it. What did you guys think? Did you like knowing more about Damian's character? Haha, I'm glad the science project is over, it's boring to write about homework. XD (But they needed to interact)._

_I'm a bit bad with vocabulary and synonyms so I hope it wasn't too boring for you to read. I've been busy with homework and I wrote this in one day. I would like to know what you think so it would be awesome if you write me anything. It would motivate me a lot. :)_

_However, I already have to thank you followers, readers and everyone that clicks accidentally for your interest and support. This is the first time I've done this so I'm very happy that anyone is reading._

_Ok, I'm gonna stop with the cheesy acknowledgements. This chapter was slow but in next one there will be more "action" so wait for it!_

**NEXT CHAPTER: WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT**


	6. Chapter 6

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 6/17: WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT**

The next weeks at McKinley went by as usual. Jess and Damian exchanged sometimes glances when they met in the hallways but they never talked since Damian left Jess' house. Jess was always with her friends from the glee club and Damian was always hanging out with Marissa, Emily or Mark Karofsky. He didn't like that she was mad at him but he didn't understand either why was she suddenly upset after having being so nice to him some days before. He missed her. Even in class they weren't together anymore. She went back to seat next to Samuel in science class and they were in different groups again. On the contrary, Jess was happy about not having to work with him anymore. Cheerios and football players were always pushing and insulting the glee club members and Damian was one of them after all.

"I'm tired of them!" Jess complained to her friends one day.

"It's our routine. What can we do?" Cameron said resigned.

All glee members were entering the school auditorium and taking seats in the audience. The school theatre club was performing that evening and all glee kids went there to see Lindsay act in the play.

"How are you guys? It's nice to see you." Mr. Schue said walking by next to the school counselor, Emma Pillsbury. "Are you here to watch Lindsay perform?"

"Yeah, she's being working really hard." Hannah commented. "We want to show her our support."

"Well, that's great. I'll see you on Thursday then. Have a good time!" the teacher said and he took a seat some rows farther next to his wife.

"It's just that I don't understand how things work in this school." Jess continued saying to Cameron lowering her voice. "They are popular and they can do whatever they want to those who are not? And we can't do anything? That's rubbish. I don't even know any girl in the school that likes Emily, why is she popular then?"

"'Cause boys do?" he joked. Jess rolled her eyes. "Calm down, Jess." Cameron told her. "What's up with you today?"

"I…" she sighed. "I'm just tired." she said finally.

Cameron looked at her worried while the curtains went up and the first actor started talking. Jess considered herself an optimistic person but she had been a little more sad those last days. Weeks after winning Sectionals they still had the same number of members in the club. Nothing had changed about that apart from them being more bullied. Jess was tired of the glee club kids being considered losers in that High School. She was a little angry at Hannah and Cameron too for being always excusing Marissa. When cheerios mocked him or Hannah, Marissa did nothing to defend them, but they didn't seem to care about it as much as Jess did. Jess was grateful that Marissa went to Sectionals with them when they needed it, but she totally ignored Hannah when they were at school. She was only concerned about her reputation. Besides all that, Jess was also upset because McKynleigh was considering leaving New Directions ever since she was slushied and Lindsay didn't even show any interest in singing, just in what glee club could mean to her student record. Moreover, Alex was always being bullied by Mark Karofsky and Jess was sick to death of that situation.

Lindsay had been outstanding in her performance. Jess couldn't understand why she was so reluctant to sing when she had so much talent. When the play finished Lindsay waved at them from the stage with a big smile. The curtains went down and the glee kids walked out of the auditorium. After the play, Jess went with Matheus to breadsticks just as she had promised to him when he asked her for a date. Matheus was cute and good and Jess thought he was a wonderful boy despite what others could think of him for being so small. They sat at one table in the middle of the restaurant and they ordered dinner. It was the first time they met outside High School so Jess asked him about his interests besides glee. They were talking and eating during half an hour. Jess found out they didn't have so much in common apart from glee club but they were having a nice time. The door of the restaurant opened and Jess saw Damian and Marissa coming in and sitting in a table close to them. Damian glanced at Jess a couple of times but he looked soon back to Marissa, who was telling him something.

"Can I be honest with you?" Matheus asked.

"Please." Jess said.

"I know this is supposed to be a date but I'm thinking that maybe it's better for us to stay as friends… It's that ok? I don't know. I'm thinking I just like you as a friend…"

"It's perfect." Jess interrupted him. "Don't worry. I was feeling the same way. I thought maybe we had more in common but we have not. But it's okay. We tried to know each other better and we did."

"Yes."

"And it's not like we did a mistake. I've had a lot of fun talking with you. And we can finish dessert as friends." She said winking at him.

They laughed. Jess saw Damian looking at her once more. They were both so perfect, the jock and the cheerleader, both of them were popular and attractive…

"So, do you like anyone in High School? Besides me, of course." Matheus joked.

"Umm…" Jess looked instinctively at Damian again but she looked back at Matheus immediately, surprised about her involuntary reaction. "No, not so far…" she answered.

"That doesn't sound very convincing…" he said with a suspicious expression.

"No, I don't." Jess repeated more firmly. "Everyone in High School is a jerk, except us in glee. Bullies bully us, cheerios insult us and the rest are just cowards and do nothing about it. I'm not gonna take it anymore…" she said, letting out the feelings she had been having those days.

An idea just popped in her mind. Jess smiled and told Matheus every single detail.

Damian couldn't stop looking at the other table. What was going on with him? Marissa seemed a little pissed off because of his lack of attention but he just wanted to watch Jess again. Did he like her? He was always watching her since the first day she went to the school and Mark made her drop her books. At that moment she reminded him to his old self. But she was not like him at all; she was a lot braver than him. Maybe if he had met her before, she would have stood up for him. Maybe she would have defended him from the bullies and he wouldn't have been so alone. Maybe they would have been the ones having dinner together that night. Damian shook his head. Why did he think that? Why would he care about what was Jess doing? He was in a date with one of the most beautiful girls in High School and after that they would have a making out session at her place. Wouldn't every boy wish to be him right then?

"Damian, are you listening?" Marissa asked to him while crossing her arms. "You seem miles away."

"Sorry," he said looking back at her "it's just that we have been ten minutes talking about Sue Sylvester. It seems the only thing we talk about lately…" he confessed.

"Yeah. You're right. Sorry about that." She admitted.

"I don't understand. If she is so hard with you, why don't you quit cheerios?" he asked.

"I can't quit cheerios after all these months of training! Although Ms. Sylvester is tough it's great to be in the cheerleader team." She explained.

Damian nodded and, after a moment without saying anything, he finally asked.

"Have you ever considered joining the glee club?" Marissa looked at him surprised. "Your old friend Hannah is in the club, right?"

"Yeah. She's in glee but I would never join. I'm a cheerleader and glee club is like the less popular thing at the school. They are complete opposites. I could not join without being kicked out of the cheerios or without all my friends stopped talking to me."

Despite her answer, Damian knew Marissa had gone to Sectionals with New Directions but, of course, she hadn't told him anything about that.

"Marissa." He said slowly, he didn't want to upset her with his question. "Are cheerios truly your friends?"

"Yeah, well…" she paused to think about it for a moment. "At least Emily is, she is always taking care of me and we love going shopping together…"

"Emily kissed me."

"…and… What? She…? SHE KISSED YOU?" she yelled with big eyes. "WHEN? WHY?"

"I don't know, we were just talking and then she kissed me. She didn't think it twice. When I was able to react she stopped… I had to tell you…"

"BUT EMILY IS MY FRIEND! She… she… THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!" she exclaimed.

Damian looked around nervous. There were a lot of couples looking at them, Jess and Matheus included. Damian avoided Jess' look and blushed. What was wrong with him?

Marissa spent the rest of the night complaining about Emily and wondering if she was her friend or not. He walked with Marissa to her home while listening to her very angry complaints. Damian did not enjoy the night but at least he did the right thing and told Marissa about the kiss. However, there was another girl that had him thinking a lot in his way home.

Next morning Jess took a sit next to Samuel at their science class, like she had being doing since she chose him again as her lab partner. The boy was quiet and distracted most of the time.

Jess could see Damian's back in the first row of seats. They had been project partners but they never talked now.

"Hey, Jess." Samuel said. "I'd been thinking lately… Could I join the glee club?"

"Wh-? Really? Of course you can!" she exclaimed.

The teacher gave her a warning look and she looked at her table, embarrassed.

"I actually had a good time at Sectionals and I would like to do it again if you need help for Regionals…"

"Of course. You are more than welcomed! We'd love to have you in the club." She said excited.

"Great then."

"But I thought you didn't join because of your reputation…"

"My rep? I don't give a shit about that. I don't care about what other people think about me, honestly." He explained. "The reason I didn't join before it's that I don't like being around school and glee club would mean four more hours of being in here. I don't like studying very much, in case you haven't noticed, but I think I can try this glee thing. I really liked performing."

"Well, that's fantastic." She said, still not believing they had one more member. "Actually, we would really need your help in a number we are going to do today."

"Great. Tell me about it."

Jess explained to him the number they were preparing and he listened to her curious. They talked in whispers the rest of the class about what they were going to do. Samuel loved how risky the number was.

It was lunch time and Damian entered the cafeteria and sat in front of Marissa. He placed his tray on the big, long table they always used to sit around. All football players and cheerios ate always there. Damian could see Marissa giving Emily the dirtiest look she could manage but the cheerleader was busy flirting with Mark and she didn't noticed. She was probably mad about what Damian told her the day before. Damian began eating, begging that Marissa wouldn't explode in the middle of the cafeteria. She used to be very calm but she was obviously angry because her best friend had kissed her boyfriend. Suddenly, all students in there heard a loud scream. Everybody looked at one of the doors of the cafeteria, where the sound was coming from, and Damian saw Alex Newell standing there with his arms opened. He was wearing a black suit with an orange shirt and he had an orange, star-shaped make-up around his eye. Some music started playing from the loudspeakers they usually used in the cafeteria for the school announcements. Were they doing a number in there? Damian couldn't even imagine what was about to happen.

**Alex**: _"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaah!"_

**Hannah**: _"We're not gonna take it"_

**Lindsay**: _"No, we ain't gonna take it"_

**Jess:** "_We're not gonna take it anymoooooore… Oh!_"

Everyone in the cafeteria was watching them. They all were wearing rock stars clothes and they all sang walking proudly through the cafeteria with their heads held high.

Alex walked a bit and then he climbed up a chair and stood on it.

**Alex:** _"We've got the right to choose and" "there ain't no way we'll lose it"_

McKynleigh sang after him. She was playing a guitar accompanying the music from the speakers.

**McKynleigh:** _"This is our life, this is our song! Ooooh!"_

Samuel got on a table and he whipped his hair back just as if he was a rock star.

**Samuel:** _"We'll fight the powers that be just" "don't pick our destiny 'cause"_

**McKynleigh:** _"You don't know us, you don't belong!"_

All the glee kids stood on some of the cafeteria tables and they started to kick people's food and drinks away.

**New Directions:** _"We're not gonna take it" "No, we ain't gonna take it" "We're not gonna take it anymore."_

Those who would have laughed at them for singing were intimidated because glee members seemed very angry and they seemed capable of doing anything. The students just watched them without moving. The cheerios and the jocks were paralyzed. Damian was afraid of how the song would continue. Hopefully, Jess would not go to their table…

Matheus ran towards Damian's table and he sang directly to the jocks.

**Matheus:** _"Oh you're so condescending" "Your gall is never ending"_

Hannah approached too and she took some pompons and tore them to pieces while singing with a menacing attitude.

**Hannah:** "_We don't want nothin', not a thing from you! Yeaah!"_

Cameron got onto the jocks table and kicked their trays away.

**Cameron:** _"Your life is trite and jaded, boring and confiscated…"_

Damian was shocked by his courage. At any moment, his football teammates could jump and beat him up. Lindsay, who had a totally different look –she was dressed like a rock singer too–, was the next one to sing.

**Lindsay:** _"If that's your best, your best won't dooooooooo!"_

Every glee kid looked at her in shock; she had a beautiful voice and a very high range. They were impressed because they had never heard her sing a solo line before.

**New Directions:** "_Oooooooh" "Oooooooh_"

Every glee member went closer to the table where Damian, Marissa and the rest of the popular kids were sitting. Cameron and Hannah were already standing on the table. Damian saw McKynleigh pushing a white cart with a lot of plastic glasses on it. Damian was begging to be wrong about the possible content of the cart. Samuel took a glass and filled it.

**Samuel:** _"Oh, we're right!"_

He threw the slushy to one of the jocks without thinking twice.

**New Directions:** _"Yeah!"_

**Hannah:** _"We're free!"_

Hannah sang while she poured two glasses of the icy drink on Marissa and Emily's heads, who screamed because of the coldness.

**New Directions:** _"Yeah!"_

**Alex:** _"We'll fight!"_

He threw his slushy right into Mark Karofsky's face.

**New Directions:** _"Yeah!"_

Lindsay and McKynleigh helped Jess to climb up to the table because she was holding a big bucket full of blue slushy. She was standing just in front of him. Damian was paralyzed and the only thing he was able to do was swallowing very hard.

**Jess:** _"You'll seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEE EE!"_

Damian was surprised about how beautifully Jess had sung that line, when liters and liters of slushy fell all over his body. That was the coldest he had ever felt. He was completely frozen and he thought he was going to faint. There had been a lot of time since he had been slushied. Damian was hardly able to open his eyes, just to see Marissa and Emily sitting in front of him, still in shock.

**Jess:** _"WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT!"_

**New Directions:** _"No, we ain't gonna take it!" "We're not gonna take it anymore!"_

They kept on throwing slushies to everyone in that table. Music continued playing and a lot of cheerleaders and football players began to react and they ran away from that place. Most glee kids were standing on the table and they danced to the sound of music. Hannah kept on pouring slushies to Emily and Marissa, who could barely move. Samuel was throwing food into the air and Matheus was doing somersaults and flips all over the cafeteria. Damian was still completely covered in slushy. The people sitting next to him had already run away the other extreme of the cafeteria. Suddenly he felt Jess' foot in his chest and he slid from his chair to the floor because of all the ice there was around him. He was then lying in the floor barely seeing anything. He still could hear the screams of the cheerios complaining about the cold or the food in their outfits. The New Directions did a rehearsed choreography when they sang again.

**New Directions:** _"We're not gonna take it" "No, we ain't gonna take it" "We're not gonna take it…"_

**Alex:** _"Anymoooooooore!"_

He sang, throwing one last slushy to Mark Karofsky.

All glee kids began to run through the place but they didn't slushy the rest of the students. They were just singing and dancing, and, at the end, they gathered in the middle of the cafeteria.

**New Directions:** _"We're not gonna take it, no!" "No! We ain't gonna take it!" "We're not gonna take it anymoooooore…" "…ooooooooh ANYMORE!"_

The glee club stopped singing and the music also stopped. Damian could see how furious Mark was. He was about to kill somebody. Damian got worried for the glee boys; the girls would be safe maybe, but Cameron, Matheus or Alex would not be so lucky. However, something stopped Mark's rage. One of the lunch ladies began clapping. Two seconds later a boy from the basketball team, called Bryce, stood up and clapped too. In a moment, every McKinley student that didn't wear a cheerio or football uniform started cheering and applauding madly. Mark seemed to shrink back when he saw every student in favor of the glee kids. Damian could see them smiling widely, specially Jess, who gave him a triumphant look, while he was still lying in the floor covered in blue ice. The clapping continued and the members of the glee club went out of the cafeteria, although soon after they all were sitting in the Principal's office.

_Notes: _

_Ok, the story continues. Did you like this chapter?_

_Not everything is going to be romance, right? XD_

**NEXT CHAPTER: TO BULLY, OR NOT TO BULLY**


	7. Chapter 7

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 7/17: TO BULLY, OR NOT TO BULLY**

The entire glee club was sitting in Principal Figgins' office. Ms. Sylvester and Coach Beiste, trainers of the cheerleading and football teams, were furious. The kids listened to their yelling and angry complaints while they looked at Mr. Figgins and Mr. Schue, who seemed calmer. Mr. Schuester, however, wasn't happy at all. The women were walking through the room and Mr. Schue was leaning on Figgins' desk looking at the kids in disapproval.

"You should ban the whole club!" Sue Sylvester said with rage in her eyes. "They shouldn't compete! The glee club budget will be finally invested in something useful!"

"Calm down, Sue." Coach Beiste said. "I also think what they did was wrong but I don't think we should take so drastic measures." She explained.

"It was my idea!" Jess told the teachers desperate. "I told them to do it. If someone has to be expelled from the club, it should be me."

Jess looked at Mr. Schue right in his eyes, asking him to forgive her. She didn't want to ruin everything they had achieved because of her stupid idea. If Mr. Figgins was cutting the club, it would all be her fault.

"Everybody please be quiet. I have already made a decision." The principal said. Every glee kid looked at him and swallowed. "All glee club members will clean the cafeteria and will repair all the damages that may be. They must also pay for the cleaning of the expensive cheerleading and football uniforms." Sue opened her mouth to protest but Figgins continued. "And they will also have four hours of detention every afternoon during the next two weeks, so they will not be able to attend glee club during that time."

Beiste nodded satisfied but Sue objected.

"That will only make them think they can always get away with everything they want! They cannot come to the school and throw slushies at the students! You have to cancel the club!"

"If I'm not wrong, glee kids are the ones that are always being slushied by cheerios and football players." Mr. Figgins argued. "I cannot suspend anyone because nobody denounces the aggressions, so I don't know who these people are exactly, but I know that the glee club is the most slushied."

"This is not fair… there's no justice in this school… what a waste of my time…" Sue mumbled in her way out of the office.

"Thank you for not cutting the club, Mr. Figgins." Jess said leaning towards his desk.

"There's no way I would cut it after you won Sectionals." The principal said smiling. "You broke the school rules but, according to the lunch ladies, you did it with a great amount of talent…"

Jess looked surprised at her friends. Cameron, Samuel and McKynleigh couldn't help but smirk after those words.

The next two weeks went by very quickly. Mr. Schue was obviously disappointed by their attitude. They had to prepare for Regionals and two weeks without glee club meant a lot of time lost. However, glee kids were happy fulfilling their punishment. They were every afternoon together in the detention room and they got to know each other better. Besides, they finished so late, all the jocks were gone and no one was there to beat them up. The only one who was a bit upset was Lindsay because she was missing other classes and club reunions. Jess apologized again to the others, specially the boys, because she was afraid they could get into a fight with the football players. However, they were happy about having participated in the number. They all felt that what they did was right but, of course, they always tried to walk in groups in case the popular kids were looking for revenge. Jess always met Damian at science class but she wasn't afraid of him. In fact, she and Samuel always mocked him in whispers from the last row of the classroom.

All the glee members could feel a big change in the High School. People looked at them in the eyes. They weren't invisible anymore. One day Lindsay told them that her theatre mates thanked her for what they had done. McKynleigh and Matheus's classmates also told them how great they had been. It seemed that glee people weren't the only ones bullied there. A lot of people had been mocked by the cheerios and a lot of freshmen and sophomores had suffered the jocks' rage too. Jess felt like they were avengers and she hoped more people would join glee club because of that.

Actually, soon after they finished detention, while they all were talking in the hallway Bryce approached to the group.

"McKynleigh, I want to be in glee club." He said to his girlfriend. "Sectionals were awesome and I don't care anymore about my reputation. I don't care about what my friends can say."

"Wow, Bryce, I'm surprised." The girl said. "Why did you change your mind?"

"Well, I saw you guys in the cafeteria two weeks ago. You were so brave." He told her. "It made my eyes open. Now I want to help you, if you let me, of course." He finished looking at the floor. The glee kids looked at McKynleigh waiting for her answer.

"Of course you can, come here." She said and she hugged him.

After the punishment finished and Bryce joined the club, they went back to normal glee club lessons. Mr. Schue made them work really hard in their dancing and they also practiced a lot their vocals. One day after class, Cameron and Jess were walking through the school hallway when they saw Damian running towards them. They both closed their eyes instinctively but Damian didn't throw anything to them.

"Don't walk down those stairs!" Damian told them catching his breath.

Cameron and Jess looked at each other with frowned eyebrows. What was he trying to do? They shrugged and kept on walking, but Damian stood in their way again.

"What are you playing at? Let us pass!" Jess spitted out angry.

"Don't go down those stairs. There's a group of jocks waiting for you..." He said.

"And how are not you with them?" Jess asked.

"I came to warn you." Damian said. Jess looked at Cameron, who seemed afraid, but Jess didn't trust Damian. Could that be a trap? "Look, you can think what you want about me but I don't think it is right that ten huge masses hit one boy and a girl." He explained.

Jess still looked at him trying to figure out if he was saying the truth but, after a moment of silence, Cameron took her hand and they got out of the school through a different route.

Jess couldn't stop thinking. What side was Damian on? On one hand, he was always with his football friends and they were always picking on the most vulnerable people in the school. On the other hand, when he was alone with Jess he seemed a nice person. Jess thought he probably did all that in order to maintain his popularity. That could be the reason he only accepted to join the glee club if it was a secret and that would also be the reason he seemed to sing in his room secretly. Or maybe, Damian had helped her and Cameron because all that slushy she threw to him had brought some moral sense into his mind.

Damian was also very confused lately. He had always been sure of what he wanted. He had spent the whole summer working to be a new person, a person that wouldn't suffer like the old Damian, a person that would have friends and would be popular. Now he had all that but all these doubts and questions were emerging in his head. Did he really have it all? The first thing that came up in his mind was Marissa. He was not in love with her. Sure, she was pretty and nice but that was all. She was one of the best girls he could ever find in the cheerleading team but their relationship was a lie. He wasn't in love with her. He never had been. It didn't start like that. They liked each other and they started dating to see if there was something more but there never was. Now Damian was much more certain about it. There were girls, like Jess, that made him feel much more than Marissa did. Damian had been pretty obsessed with Jess during the last months and that would be probably because he liked her. However, he was with Marissa, not with Jess.

The next thing he thought about were his friends. They weren't really his friends. They were his teammates. He never saw them after school and they never hanged out outside McKinley. They never showed any interest in his personal life, they never had called him when he was sick and he had never told any of them any of his numerous secrets. His friends were also a lie. But he really wanted to have real friends. The closer thing to a friend he had was Marissa. She was the only one that cared about him and he loved her as a friend. Love, friendship and everything else… Wasn't he pretending to be a total different person? Hadn't he changed his surname? Wasn't he faking his accent? He was also a lie. He couldn't be real. That was why he never invited anyone home, that was why he hadn't really tried to strike up a friendship with anybody. All his life was a fake. What should he do then? He didn't know. All he could do was trying to protect Jess and the glee club from Karofsky and the others. Maybe one day, he could join the glee club and have some real friends.

"I would like to be in the glee club."

"What?"

"No, no way!"

"Come on, guys. Let's give a chance to Marissa. All of you know that we need a lot of people to compete at Regionals." Mr. Schue said.

He was standing in the middle of the choir room, next to Marissa, who wasn't wearing her cheerleader uniform but normal clothes.

"Listen, guys. I don't want to join to cause any trouble." Marissa explained looking at the glee members, who were looking at her skeptically. "I just…Hannah, I want to be your friend again, I want to get our friendship back. I feel really bad about how I've let you down…"

"And you've suddenly changed your mind?" Hannah asked with her arms crossed looking at the other red-haired girl.

Jess looked at her friend and Cameron looked nervously from Hannah to Marissa and the other way around.

"The whole number in the cafeteria… It made me realize how much I had hurt you… I've really missed you, Hannah, I'm so sorry… I want to help you so you can forgive me and, of course, I would love to spend more time together, just like in the old times. I've been such a stupid…" Marissa said embarrassed looking at her old friend.

Everyone looked at Hannah, waiting for her answer. It was her choice but it would be great to have one more member in the group for Regionals.

"OK. We can try to have you in the club for a while, but you better not be spying for Sue!" Hannah warned her.

"No way. She cannot know I'm in the glee club, she would kick me out of the cheerios." She said.

Marissa sat in a seat next to Hannah with a huge smile and Mr. Schue started to explain to them that week's assignment.

"What are you doing here?" Marissa asked Damian some days later.

He was sitting alone in the bleachers in front of the football field. Marissa smiled to him and sat beside him.

"Just… thinking…" he answered.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Football…" he lied.

Marissa laughed.

"You shouldn't worry so much; I've heard you are the favorites to win the championship." Damian nodded, still looking at the green field. "Sue Sylvester is always complaining about Coach Beiste but I think she's a really great Coach. And you and Karofsky are really good players. I'm sure you'll win." She said and she kissed his cheek.

The kiss seemed to bring Damian back to Earth.

"Where are you coming from? I thought you didn't have cheerios practice today…" he asked looking at her normal clothes. Marissa blushed a bit after his question.

"Can I tell you a secret?" she asked.

"Yes…"

"I… I joined the glee club last week." Damian couldn't hide a surprised expression. "I know what you are thinking but I missed my friendship with Hannah. Since we talked about Emily and after the slushy incident I felt really bad for betraying her and… I guess Emily wasn't my real friend after all…"

Those words seemed to be following Damian everywhere. The "real friend" thing again.

"Hannah is still a bit distant but the rest are being really nice… Damian, are you O.K.?" the girl asked.

Damian looked at her. She seemed worried and Damian wasn't surprised because he was feeling really bad at that moment.

"Damian, is everything alright?" she asked again.

"I can't do this anymore…"

"What?"

"I can't be with you…" he said with a sad look and then looked at his feet. "I think I don't want to be your boyfriend…"

"What? Wait, what?" She asked with a faltering voice. "Is this because I joined the glee club? Because I thought you would understand..."

"No… No! It's not because of that!" he told her looking at her again. She was starting to cry. "It's just…" he was trying to explain his feelings but it was complicated and it was the first time Damian had to face a situation like that. "I don't want to keep lying to you, you don't deserve that. I like you, I like you a lot but… I'm not in love with you." He said finally. He wanted her to say something but she only sobbed. "When we first dated I thought we would fall in love eventually but I haven't and I've always thought you didn't love me either. I don't want to lie to you…"

"But why all of a sudden?" Marissa yelled.

"I- I don't know, I've been think…"

"Is there another person?"

"What? No!" He yelled. "Marissa I don't want you to…" he said grabbing her arm.

"Let me go! I don't want to be here…" she said and then ran down the bleachers wiping the tears of her face.

Damian stood there feeling terrible. He wanted to be honest with her but he didn't want her to get hurt and now she was sad and angry at him.

Damian was taking a shower after football training. They were in the final weeks of the championship and Coach Beiste made them train very hard. That day they had finished very late so he was one of the last players in the locker room. Beiste made Damian and Mark train especially hard because they had been the best players in the last games. Who would have thought he was good at playing American football? Damian and Mark had spent so much time together because of all that football training that they were becoming best friends. But Damian didn't think those words were the right ones. He still couldn't tell him anything he was thinking or feeling lately, not to him not to anyone else.

Damian was feeling a lot of angst lately. He was keeping all these secrets and he had no one to talk to, he couldn't tell his parents and he had no friends to tell them either. He was used to that situation but now Marissa wasn't there to comfort him. And, moreover, he had one more secret he couldn't tell. He had feelings for Jess. He missed talking to her and he felt sad about how she talked and looked at him whenever they met. He liked her and she hated him. And he couldn't find any way of letting out all his feelings.

**Damian:** _"I don't want to leave her now" "You know I believe and how" … "Somewhere in her smile she knows"…_

"Are you singing?" Mark asked.

"No." Damian answered immediately.

He had not noticed Mark was there. He had not realized he was singing either. That song had been stuck in his head during those last days. Mark walked into the next shower and Damian closed his tap, took his towel and dressed.

"Hey, Damian. Tomorrow after class the boys and I are going to get our revenge on those glee kids for the whole slushy thing."

"What have you guys planned this time?"

They had been trying to get their revenge since weeks ago but Damian had been warning the glee club, so they had always escaped safely after class.

"We're going to shoot them with paintball guns. You are coming, right?" Mark said.

"I don't know…"

"Come on! It's after class, you have nothing to do at that time!"

Damian agreed but, as always, he was planning telling Jess and the glee club.

Next day after class Jess was walking through the hallways with all her friends from the glee club. The newest members, Bryce and Marissa, also hanged out with them since they joined the club. Jess saw Damian discreetly walking towards them and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't cross the main gates." He whispered to her.

"Or?" Jess said.

"They are going to shoot you with paintball pistols." He told her.

"And what do you suggest us to do? Do you want us to run and leave through any other way?" she asked him with angry eyes.

"Well… yes."

Jess puffed. She was tired of that situation, of them running whenever the bullies wanted to do something to the group. Damian acted like he was this "hero" because he always came and warned them but she was angrier at him every time he did it. The others seemed to like him more every time but how could they forget about the slushy he threw to them? Helping them then wouldn't repair all he had done.

"Why are you doing this? Why do you always warn us?" Jess asked to him raising her voice.

"Because I don't want you to…"

"You don't want us to. If you really don't want it why don't you tell them not to do it? You think you are such a good person for telling us, but do you know what I think?" Damian took a step back, Jess seemed really mad at him that day. "I think you are a coward. I think you are a coward that has to come to tell us secretly that his friends want to beat the crap out of us. Why don't you try this, Damian? When you are out there with that gun in your hands, tell the others to stop. Let's see then who's the good guy."

Damian looked at her in the eye. Why did she have to hate him so much?

"So you are going out there? They are in the parking lot waiting for you!" Damian said afraid.

"Yes, we are crossing those gates, Damian. We are tired of hiding, we are braver than that and if they want to cover us in paint, well, we will be there to be shot. Maybe you have never heard of this word but we have a thing called dignity." Jess spitted every word out looking at him with hate radiating from her eyes. They were inches away from one another and the rest of the glee club was looking at them in shock. "So what are you going to do?"

Damian bit his lip and stormed out the hallway.

"Jess, are you sure about this?" McKynleigh asked.

"Yes, guys. We cannot hide the rest of the year. We have to show them we are not afraid of them."

"And we'll be all covered in paint…" Matheus whispered.

"Well, yes. But if we can walk out there with our heads held high and resist the attack, they won't take our dignity away from us. We can still have that."

"You're right, Jess." Marissa said. "Let's show them who's braver than them!"

After a little encouragement they all walked together and exited the school. They arrived to the parking lot and saw the group of jocks with their loaded guns. Damian, of course, was with them.

"Hey guys! Look who are here!" Karofsky exclaimed and the rest of the boys laughed stupidly. "We haven't seen you guys since you threw those slushies into our faces. We have prepared something a little bit different for today." He said shaking his gun.

"Bring it on." Jess said.

"Oh, we will."

All the jocks pointed the guns to the glee group. Jess and her friends stood there with their fists tight and their heads high. Jess looked at Damian for a second before every jock started shooting. The paint balls' impact hurt and their clothes and skins were all being colored. Jess looked at Damian to see if he would try to stop them but after frowning, he took his gun and shoot them as the rest of his teammates. Jess thought he was a coward but she and her friends will show to them their courage. An instinctive impulse came to her suddenly and she opened her mouth and began singing.

**Jess:** _"Been there, done that, messed around" "I'm having fun, don't put me down" "I'll never let you sweep me off my feet"_

All the football players looked at her confused but they kept on shooting.

**Marissa:** _"I won't let you in again" "The messages I've tried to send" "My information's just not goin in"_

**Cameron:** _"Burning bridges, shore to shore" "I break away from something more" "I'm not to, not to love until it's cheap"_

**Hannah and Matheus:** _"Been there, done that, messed around" "I'm having fun, don't put me down" "I'll never let you sweep me off my feet"_

The jocks didn't know what to do. All the glee kids had started doing an improvised number and a lot of students had come closer to watch what was happening. Normally when they were bullying anyone, the rest of the students looked away but the glee members and their song were drawing a lot of attention. Every glee kid smiled even if they were being shot.

**Jess and New Directions:** _"This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!" "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!"_

**Alex:** _"I won't let you turn around," "I'll tell you now, I'm much too proud" "To walk away from something when it's dead"_

**Lindsay and Samuel:** _"Do do do your dirty words" "Come out to play when you are heard" "There's certain things that should be left unsaid"_

**McKynleigh and Bryce:** _"Tick tick tick tick on the watch" "Life's too short for me to stop" "Oh baby, your time is running out"_

**Jess:** _"I won't let you turn around" "And tell me now, I'm much too proud" "All you do is fill me up with doubt"_

The jocks ran out of paint balls and stood there not sure about what to do. The glee club was still singing and some of them climbed on some cars and sang the next chorus from up there. They were all painted in many different colors, their faces and hairs too. A lot of students came closer to listen to them and the football players were getting more and more uncomfortable.

**Jess and New Directions:** _"This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!" "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!" "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!" "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!"_

The glee kids got down off the cars and Jess took Damian's gun from his hands, which wasn't difficult because he was still very surprised. They all stood on the stairs of the main school gates while singing the last chorus.

**Jess and New Directions:**_ "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!" "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!" "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!" "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof!"_

_Notes:_

_Hello guys! Did you like this chapter? I want messages so please feel free to ask me ANYTHING. I would love to know you are still reading my fic. _=D

_Sorry it took me so long to post this but it takes a lot of time for me to write it in English and to review it. I hope you like how everything is developing. I always like better some love tension than romance from the first chapter… But don't worry; everything will arrive sooner or later. Next chapter is about the popular kids: Damian, Emily and Mark. Ellis will also appear in it for the first time._

_By the way, the songs of this chapter were Something by the Beatles and Bulletproof by La Roux._

_See you soon!_

**NEXT CHAPTER: THAT'S POPULAR LIFE**


	8. Chapter 8

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 8/17: THAT'S POPULAR LIFE**

**Ellis:** _(looking at camera)_ Hello there McKinley High and fellow bloggers! I'm Ellis Wylie and we're here to see what is going on today at McKinley. Big competitions are coming up! The football team plays this week the championship game and cheerleading Nationals take place only one week later. At the other end of the scale, the school glee club is preparing for Regionals after their unnoticed victory at Sectionals. Will they win? Will they lose? Will I give a shit about any of that? Probably not. But anyways, we are here today to talk to the popular kids of the school and to the, well, not so popular…

Here we have Damian Anderson, one of the stars of the football team. _(Damian waves at the camera)_ Tell us Damian, in all those days taking showers with your teammates in the locker rooms, have you ever got an untimely boner?

**Damian:** Wh- ? What kind of question is that?

**Ellis:** _(to the camera)_ He's not denying it…

**Damian:** No, no! Of course not, I haven't got a… no!

**Ellis:** _(sighs)_ What a pity. I guess I would leave that for my fanfic.

**Damian:** Wh…

**Ellis:** Besides the fact that your main aim in your school years is to destroy wonderful music, I've seen you doing several performances in the school grounds, you realize you are not inside a musical, right?

**Samuel and Cameron:** …

**Ellis:** I want to know, what do you think about the cliché of cheerleaders being stupid?

**Marissa:** Well, that is just a stereotype, being a cheerleader doesn't mean being dumb.

**Ellis:** Alright, next question: "Which is the capital of Spain? A: Barcelona. B: Madrid. C: I don't give a shit about Mexico, I'm American."

**Marissa:** _(thinking)_ Umm…

**Ellis:** What do you think about the fact that glee club is even less popular than McKinley chess club?

**Hannah:** Well, it's a long way to go but things are going to change when we win Regionals.

**Ellis:** You are really a dreamer, aren't you?

**Ellis:** Since you are married to the school counselor, have you ever done your marital duties in the janitor's closet?

**Mr. Schue:** … _(looks at camera with his mouth open)_

**Marissa:** Barcelona?

**Ellis:** It's been said that your gay cousin has been seen auditioning for some musicals in Ohio, what do you have to say about that?

**Mark:** _(looking uncomfortable)_ I don't know anything about that…

**Jess:** I just want to remind that hurtful comments in blogs are just another type of bullying, we have to be careful about what we say to others or we can actuall-

**Ellis:** Boooooring…

**Sue Sylvester:** Well, the answer is clearly C…

**Ellis:** Are you single? 'Cause you're hot.

**Damian:** … well… Yes, I'm single now…

**Ellis:** _(winking at the camera)_ Get in line girls…

**Ellis:** "If you were in a deserted island, what of these things would you bring with you? A: A rowboat, B: Your blackberry, C: A scarf."

**Alex:** …

**Ellis: **Ok, what about in the choir room?

**Mr. Schue:** …

**Lindsay:** Wait, is there a chess club and I'm not in it? _(runs)_

**Emily:** _(flirting with the camera)_ As the captain of the cheerleading team I just want to say that I can guarantee that we are going to win Nationals and you will also be able to vote for me for prom queen soon. Of course, Damian and I, the most popular couple in school, have just started dating so you can vote for us for Prom King and Queen…

**Ellis:** It seems only one person of the couple knows they are dating! _(Emily's smile disappears)_

**Sue Sylvester:** Yes, the secret about Marissa being in the glee club has lasted much less time than expected, but I'm not going to kick her out of the team. I like to have my flock well spread so I can have eyes in all the corners of this school.

**Ellis:** You mean like spying…

**Sue Sylvester:** Well, I'm not saying that I want to spy Schuester and his new group of even uglier misfits that he calls glee club; but yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

**Ellis:** _(looking at camera) _O.K. I think we got our show. Keep online and blogging. Next week are cheerleading Nationals. We'll see how much plastic can be in just one pyramid! Keep watching and see you on Tumblr!

Damian breathed deeply. The gigantic guy in front of him smirked. He suddenly felt much more nervous; he was so small compared to him. Damian could still hear the cheerleaders' song and the crowd rooting for them but soon everyone went silent. The sweat was dropping through his forehead. He was exhausted.

"Down!... Set!... HUT!" Mark Karofsky shouted.

Everyone moved and Damian ran through the first gap he saw. He could hear Coach Beiste yelling something to him. Someone was coming closer. Damian felt the impact in his back and fell immediately to the ground. He grabbed the grass with his fingers while the pain spread all over his body. The enormous guy from the other team laughed satisfied.

"Oh, my God! Is he okay?" Marissa whispered worried to Emily.

"COME ON, GUYS! THIS IS THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!" Coach Beiste shouted angrily when the other team blocked their move.

Damian sighed and got up with difficulty. He was so tired, but it was the Championship game, they needed to win, no matter how hard it was. Damian looked at the score board. They were tied and there were only a few seconds left. It was now or never. That was their last move to win the game. McKinley hadn't won since three years ago and Damian was not going to let them lose the last game. A lot of people had come to see it, the bleachers were full of people holding banners and cheering for them.

"You O.K., man?" Mark said.

"Yeah…" Damian said grabbing Mark's hand and banging their opposite shoulders. "LET'S WIN THIS THING!" He said with a new regained optimism.

"Yeah!"

He could not allow himself feeling nervous or hopeless. He couldn't let his attitude ruin that opportunity for them. Damian breathed strongly and then smiled to Mark. Everybody got in their positions. The time had arrived.

The same intimidating jock laughed at him again, but he ignored him. There was no one faster than him in that field and Damian was sure about it. Their most useful weapon in the whole championship was Damian's recently discovered speed. In the last games they found out Damian was an incredibly fast runner. Damian didn't know that either. His secret was to imagine the jocks were running after him to throw him into the dumpster. His legs flew every time he imagined that, and he had to use that thought again in order to win.

"Alright! Blue forty-two!" Mark shouted. The silence was back in the whole field. Everyone waited expectant. "Down!... Set!... HUT!"

Damian ran as fast as he could, no one would get to him that time. When he ran a little more he saw Mark throwing the ball to him and he prepared to catch it. He glimpsed the rival players approaching but they were far enough. Damian caught the ball and ran again. He crossed the line and threw the ball into the ground making the entire crowd shout in excitement. The referee blew the whistle marking the end of the game and their victory. There was so much noise in the field because of the people cheering in excitement, that Damian couldn't hear anything his teammates were saying to him while they hugged him. When he was able to walk again he joined the group in the middle of the field. Coach Beiste was congratulating everyone. Damian had never seen her happier. Mark appeared in the middle of the crowd and hugged Damian tightly making his feet separate from the ground. Damian sighed tired when he got back to the ground only to see Emily coming to congratulate them.

"Emily!" Damian said happily. "Wh…?"

Emily grabbed his face between her hands and crashed their lips and tongues together. Damian was very surprised, but he closed his eyes and he let himself be absorbed into the passionate kiss.

Marissa froze instantly while the rage spread through her body. How could Emily do that to her? How could she kiss her ex boyfriend? And Damian? He said there was no one else when he broke up with her. That was it. She was done with both of them, she had nothing to do with any of them. Marissa walked through the field angry while everybody in the bleachers celebrated their victory.

"Ms. Sylvester?"

"Yes?" The woman said.

"I'm quitting cheerios." Marissa told her.

"I don't get that joke."

"It's not a joke. I don't want to see Emily ever again, I'm quitting the cheerios."

"You can't quit! You have to die or being kicked out to leave the team!"

"Well, I don't care about that. I still quit!"

"But we have Nationals next week! You're one of my best cheerleaders! What am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, I'm sure there are many other girls in this school waiting for getting in. I'm sorry." The girl said and then walked away from the teacher.

"But you are my spy in New Directions! How I'm going to know now wh-…?"

"I'm not anybody's spy!" Marissa shouted indignant. "I'm in New Directions because I like it and they really appreciate my talent! They don't use me to get whatever they want and they haven't betrayed me like cheerleaders have done."

"But…"

"Good night, Ms. Sylvester." Marissa told her before leaving the school.

"And, making this their third consecutive year as champions, the winners of the Nationals trophy of cheerleading competition are William McKinley High School!" The judge said.

Sue Sylvester shouted proudly while holding the prize while Emily made flirtatious smiles to the cameras. They had just won cheerleading Nationals. After celebrating and getting the trophy into Sue's office at High School, Sue called Emily to her office to talk to her.

"I want you to join the glee club." Sue said.

"What?" Emily asked surprised.

"I need your eyes in that glee club! You see, after winning Nationals I've lost my main source of distraction during the last months." She said while polishing her new trophy. "The only diversion that I have left now is to insult Will Schuester but that is just not enough. Oh, he's even more insufferable now with that ginger, crazy wife and that adorable baby of his. All that cuteness makes me want to puke SO MUCH! I need to destroy the glee club to make me feel alive again and so I don't have to look at all those familiar images that seem to belong to an animated Disney movie."

"And what would I have to do?" Emily asked confused.

"You just need to observe. Schuester is so foolish he will build up his own trap. Whenever he does something irregular or reprehensible, you need to tell me and I will make sure he gets fired. You can start tomorrow, now get out, I think I had enough human contact for today."

Emily went out of Sue's office and took her phone. She dialed Damian's number and waited for him to answer. She had been flirting with him the entire week since they kissed after the game. Every time she could, she smiled at him and made her sensual and well-known movement of flipping her hair. She needed to seize every opportunity to seduce him. They were the most popular people in the school and she wanted to go to prom with him and be McKinley 'it' couple. Now that he had broken up with Marissa, she wouldn't have to be under her shadow ever again.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hi, Damian. I just wanted to let you know we won Nationals." Emily told him.

"That's wonderful! Congratulations! I was sure you would win."

"I was thinking, maybe we can celebrate our team's victories Friday night, at breadsticks?"

"Oh, well… umm…"

"I would really like to spend some time alone with you, I've missed you…" Emily said with an innocent voice.

"…ok. I will see you on Friday then."

"Great. Bye!"

"…bye."

Emily smiled happy. She had just won Nationals and she was going on a date with Damian. All she had to do now for Ms. Sylvester was joining that glee club.

Jess walked into the choir room at 4 p.m. The other glee members were already in there. It was only Mr. Schue who was a little late. Jess sat next to Cameron, who was talking animatedly with Marissa. The rest of the boys were having fun playing some instruments and Samuel was laughing at the horrible noise they were making. Jess looked worried to her left. The rest of the girls seemed quite angry and upset.

"Are you okay?" Jess asked to Lindsay, the one who was closer to her.

"Yes." She said sharply.

"Well, you seem angry… Is anything wrong?"

"O.K. Fine. I'm angry at Samuel." Lindsay explained.

"What have I done?" Samuel asked suddenly surprised.

"Nothing. That's the problem! You do nothing!" Lindsay said exasperated. She sighed and then she explained everything to Jess. "Samuel and I have to do a school work for English class about Shakespeare and we have to do it together, but he doesn't want to stay in the library after class to finish it."

"Relax. What we have done so far is fine and we have a lot of time left anyways." Samuel said.

"What _I_ have done is not enough and we don't have much time! You barely contributed to the essay! I'm the only one working." Lindsay complained with her arms crossed.

Lindsay and Samuel began fighting and Jess regretted having asked anything. She knew perfectly how lazy Samuel could be. They were science partners and, although Samuel was now more involved in their projects, he still was not a great help. On the other hand, Lindsay always liked to do every project weeks before the deadline and she had to do everything perfectly. They couldn't be more different. Samuel and Lindsay stopped the quarrel and sat down when Mr. Schue entered the room. Jess looked at Hannah and McKynleigh. She still didn't know why they were angry too.

"O.K. guys, stop the fighting." Mr. Schue said. "We only have a few weeks before Regionals and we need two more members to compete, so the worst thing we can do right now is to be mad at each other. Now we have to put all our energies in finding…"

"Sorry I'm late."

Everyone looked at the door. The cheerleader flipped her black hair back and smiled while she was walking into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Marissa asked irritated.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Mr. Schuester said.

"My name is Emily Vasquez and I would like to join the glee club."

"Uh, uh." Hannah said.

"No." Jess said.

"No way!" Marissa shouted.

"Guys, calm down." The teacher asked. "Why do you want to join?"

"Well, as you probably know we have just won Nationals and I thought I should use my many talents doing something else the rest of the year."

All the kids complained about Emily. They didn't want her in New Directions.

"O.K., O.K. guys, calm down!" Mr. Schue asked again. "I think… I think we should let her join the group." Everyone started arguing again but the man continued. "Look guys, as I just said we need two more people to compete and with Emily we will just need one more. Look, the only people that accepted to join for Sectionals are already in the group. That is: Marissa, Bryce and Samuel. If we have to bring more people, just like we did in Sectionals we may not be so lucky this time. Besides, we should let in anybody who wants to join in New Directions. We shouldn't exclude anyone."

"But Mr. Schue. She is a spy! She is going to spy for Sue Sylvester about everything we do!" Marissa explained angry.

"Well, if Sue is spying us, I'm not afraid of her. Spy or not, I think we should let Emily join. We cannot take the risk of throwing anybody out of the group with Regionals so close." The teacher finished.

Every kid muttered but Emily sat in one of the chairs, happy to be there.

Damian went with Emily to breadsticks on Friday. He had kept on ascending in the popularity scale. After winning the football championship everyone congratulated him in the hallways and everyone was nice to him. According to Mark, all the girls liked him and Emily was always smiling and winking at him every time they met. All had changed so much since last year. They had no idea of who he had been. But it was fine, he was finally enjoying High School and if he had to pretend to be different, he will do it. Right then, he was on a date with Emily when he didn't even like her, but she was the most popular girl in the school. Of course, she was hot too, but, still, he didn't like her. He was feeling pretty bored while talking to her until she mentioned she joined the glee club. Oh, the glee club. That club had come into his life and was putting everything he had achieved in risk. Every time he had tried to help them he was jeopardizing his 'popular boy' role. And Jess. She was always putting all these doubts and thoughts in his mind. And he missed her. A lot. Even if she was angry at him all the time, he missed talking to her. Her eyes, her smile, her voice. He just missed her.

"Thank you for taking me home." Emily said after their date.

"You're welcome."

"Do you want to… come in?" Emily asked hesitantly. Damian raised his eyebrows. "My parents aren't home…"

"Well… uh…" Damian was getting a little bit nervous. Was she suggesting what he thought she was suggesting? "…yes."

The words just came out of his mouth. He wasn't sure if that was a good idea or a bad one. He didn't actually know if he wanted to come in or not. However, Emily smiled pleased. They both went to the living room and they sat on the sofa. Emily brought a couple of glasses of wine and they drank some sips in silence. Damian was getting more and more nervous. What was going to happen? Emily finally put the glass on the table smiling to him. She leaned and kissed him on the lips. Damian lay back while Emily caressed his hair. Damian grabbed her waist softly while they kissed more passionately. Emily kissed his neck and his earlobe. Damian thought she was being very sexy. It felt different than when he made out with Marissa. Emily was much more provocative and sensual.

After some more minutes of making out, Emily hold him tighter and kissed his neck once again. Then he felt how Emily's hands started unbuttoning his shirt and he stopped moving. Damian could feel his cheeks turning red. What was she doing? He had never got so far with Marissa, his first girlfriend. Emily took his shirt off and she began to give smooth kisses on his chest. He felt suddenly aroused but he felt weird too. He didn't want Emily to do that. He actually didn't want to do anything with her; he didn't like her after all. Yes, it felt good and every other boy would kill to be in his situation but, at the same time, everything felt wrong. What was he doing there with Emily? Emily kissed him on the lips again and she put her tongue in his mouth. Damian felt Emily's hands playing with his belt. Were they going to do it? He had to get out of there. He didn't like Emily. He liked Jess. He had feelings for her. He was now even more certain about it. He tried to say something to her but he wasn't able to talk with her tongue in there. He was getting very tense. He moved back quickly, separating from Emily.

"Emily, I can't…"

Emily smiled and blushed.

"I'm sorry, I was going too fast."

"I can't…" Damian repeated catching his breath, he felt hot and nervous. "I'm sorry. I can't do this."

"It's okay. I understand. We… we'll take our time." Emily said.

"No, it's… I can't be with you."

"There's no problem. We can go slower…"

"WE CAN'T GO ANYTHING!" Damian shouted suddenly making Emily move back. "I don't want to do anything with you! I don't want to be with you. I…" Damian breathed anxious. "I'm sorry. I should never have come."

Damian took his shirt and ran out of the house. Emily stayed sitting on the sofa, covered her face with her hands and started to cry.

On Monday, Emily was putting her books in her locker before her next class started. Marissa approached.

"Leave the glee club alone!" Marissa said angry. "You are not going to ruin our chances of winning Regionals! We all know you are spying for Sue, if you dare to do anything to make us lose…"

"What are you going to do?" Emily asked. "Mr. Schue has already agreed that I can stay."

"Well, nobody wants you there but him. Don't you realize how Sue is treating you? You are just Sue's puppet." Marissa said.

"Oh, my God! I can't believe you ruined your chance of winning Nationals with us to join and defend that group of freaks. You are so stupid!" Emily exclaimed.

"They are not freaks! We are not freaks! And I left the cheerios because you were the worst friend ever!" Marissa said agitated. "Because you kissed Damian when we were dating and when we just broke up!"

"Well, it's not my fault that he finally realized I was better than you…"

"Really? Because people are saying he was seen running away from your house last Friday night!" Marissa argued.

Emily felt suddenly very embarrassed and furious.

"What happened?" Marissa asked. "Didn't the same thing happen with Mark Karofsky one month ago?"

"Shut up!" Emily shouted pushing her.

"Does that upset you? Are you going to do the same thing with the next one?"

"Shut it!" Emily shouted pushing her again.

"What are you going to do? Run to Ms. Sylvester? Slut…" she whispered.

Emily slapped her and everyone in the hallway gasped.

"Shut it, you brainless bitch!" Emily said furious.

"Don't you dare to repeat that!" Marissa warned her but she was already pushing her against the lockers.

The two girls were fighting while a group of students gathered to watch the fight. Coach Beiste and Sue Sylvester arrived soon to stop it. The girls tried to catch their breaths while looking at each other with mad eyes. They were immediately taken to the Principal's office.

"Hey, Jess!" Cameron said approaching to her locker.

"Hey, what's up?" His friend asked with a big smile.

"I just wanted to ask you if you want a ride home."

"That would be great! Thanks!"

"Hey…" Cameron said hesitantly while scratching his head. "Do you know what is going on with Hannah?" Jess looked at him intrigued. "She has barely spoken to me during the past weeks and we have always been inseparable. I don't remember having done anything to her. Has she said anything to you?"

"No, she hasn't. But I have also seen her different during these weeks." Jess confessed. "But it is very weird she stopped talking to you. You are best friends!"

"I know. I don't understand it and she denies being acting differently."

"I've also seen McKynleigh angry at glee club lately. Maybe it has something to do with that."

"No." Cameron answered. "I heard McKynleigh and Bryce had a couple fight. That is why they are not sitting together in glee club anymore."

"Oh." Jess exclaimed disappointed. "That sucks. I don't like fights."

"Hey, Damian!" Mark said to his friend.

"What's up?"

"Take this." He said handing him a plastic cup full of slushy. "I've just seen a couple of glee kids in the hallway."

"What?" Damian said taking his cup. Oh, God. Who were they slushying this time?

They turned around the corner and Damian saw Jess and Cameron talking next to the lockers. Mark smiled eager. Damian tried to think but they were walking so quickly he really couldn't make a decision. Should he slushy her and make her hate him forever or should he throw it and keep his reputation and identity safe? Mark was already throwing his slushy and Damian extended his arm immediately after him. Jess and Cameron closed their eyes and opened their mouths in shock.

"HEY!" A woman shouted behind them.

Damian froze. That manly voice only could belong to one woman. Mark and Damian turned around slowly.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" Coach Beiste shouted.

"We… uh..." Mark said nervous.

"YOU TWO COME WITH ME RIGHT NOW TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE." The coach said furious. "Are you the ones slushying the glee kids?! I can't believe it. My two best players… I'm telling Mr. Schue too!" She looked at Jess and Cameron. "You two can go to clean yourself!"

The coach took them to Figgins' office and she also called the director of the glee club. After the coach told everything to Figgins, they started to discuss what their punishment would be.

"I would expel them from the football team, but there's no point. The season is over!" The woman said.

"Then I will have to suspend them and tell their parents." Figgins said.

Damian opened his eyes scared.

"No, please! We will do anything but don't tell our parents!" Damian begged. If they called Mr. and Mrs. Anderson they would found out there were no Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. The teachers looked at him intrigued. "It's just… We have just won the football championship… and… they are really proud of us… We don't want to disappoint them." Damian lied.

"Alright, but we will have to find another punishment. We don't tolerate this kind of behavior in the school!" Figgins argued.

"Can I say something?" Beiste said. "I think I have found a solution that will benefit everybody."

_Notes:_

_I guess you all know what is going to happen, right? XD_

_This was a really short chapter in the sketches but after writing everything it turned out so very long! I hope you liked it. By the way, I have no idea about American football so I just made everything up, using glee as reference._

_This chapter had no songs but next chapter will also be long. There are SEVEN SONGS! They are doing duets, including Adele and a Disney mash-up! ^ ^_

_Send me messages! I'm bored with homework and I like to find new messages! XP_

_See you!_

**NEXT CHAPTER: TEAMWORK**


	9. Chapter 9

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 9/17: TEAMWORK**

It was Thursday in the afternoon and all the glee members were sitting in the choir room chairs waiting for Mr. Schue to arrive. Cameron was looking worried at Hannah while he taught Marissa some guitar chords and McKynleigh and Bryce still didn't talk to each other and were sitting in distant chairs. Emily was filing her nails, Lindsay was reading her History book and Samuel was taking a nap on his chair.

"Are you okay?" Jess asked to Hannah.

"Yes, yes." She said, but she seemed upset.

"By the way, where is Matheus?" Jess wondered.

"He felt sick this morning, so he has gone home." Alex explained.

Mr. Schue arrived to the choir room but he was not alone. Coach Beiste was with him and the kids could see Damian Anderson and Mark Karofsky walking slowly behind them into the room. The two boys watched the room curious.

"What are they doing here?" Jess asked irritated.

"They… They're the new members of the glee club." Schue said.

Every glee member got up from their seats and complained. Their shouting and yelling created a blurred noise when they told Mr. Schue about all the slushies, the paint and basically everything that Damian and Mark had done to them. Coach Beiste blew her whistle asking for silence. The glee kids calmed down a bit but they were still angry.

"Look guys, I know this seems crazy but we wanted to punish Damian and Mark for their behavior and, well, Coach Beiste came up with this idea." Mr. Schue explained.

"Is it a punishment for them or for us?" Marissa complained.

"…As I was saying, we thought a punishment wouldn't be enough to change their attitudes. We had to make them see what glee club was about. So they have to attend to glee club mandatorily until the end of the year." Jess was shaking her head while listening to him. "This is our chance to let them know what it feels to be a glee kid, what it feels to be excluded. If we can show them that and they see how cool glee club really is, maybe all the bullying will stop once and for all."

"Or maybe we'll all be dead in a week." Cameron added.

"Besides guys, with them, we have already thirteen members for Regionals! We won't have to find more people! I think this is also an opportunity to improve our relationship with the football players and it will definitely benefit all of us."

The kids muttered angrily while the two tall boys walked towards the chairs. Emily waved at them with a big smile. Jess kicked Damian's chair so he had to pick it up from the floor.

"Jess!" Mr. Schue yelled, but the girl shrugged.

"What are you looking at?" Mark asked Alex, who was looking at Karofsky.

"Nothing. Nothing." He said looking away.

Damian and Mark were sitting far away from the rest of the group, conscious of all the hate they were feeling towards them.

"I don't think this is going to be a good idea." McKynleigh said.

"Well, actually, it goes perfectly with the homework assignment I have prepared for this week." Mr. Schue commented.

"Oh, man, I don't want to sing…" Mark whispered.

"What is it?" Hannah asked.

"I've noticed that there have been a lot of fights inside the club lately. If we want to win Regionals, we have to learn to work with each other. We cannot perform if we barely talk to the other members. It's impossible." The teacher explained. "That's why you are going to prepare a duet with another glee club member and you are going to perform it next week. But you are not going to choose your partner." The kids' smiles vanished; they were already thinking who they would pick. "I am going to pair you off with a person you get on badly. That person you can't stand."

"What?" Samuel asked.

All the kids were confused.

"We must improve the coexistence inside the club and we have to learn to work as a team. The first couple: McKynleigh and Bryce." Everyone looked at them surprised. "I've noticed you guys had a fight and you don't talk to each other anymore. Well, you'll have to learn to work together and perform a duet for next week." Mr. Schuester said.

McKynleigh and Bryce didn't seem happy at all about that idea. The rest of the kids moved in their seats nervous. Jess crossed her fingers. _"Please, not Damian. Please, not him."_ She thought.

"Lindsay." The teacher continued. "You will do your duet with Samuel. I've heard you had some problems with your English essay so this will be you opportunity to solve them."

Samuel puffed and Lindsay looked disappointed.

"Marissa and Emily." The teacher announced.

"What?" Marissa yelled.

She couldn't believe it. After their fight in the hallway they had to perform together?

"Next duet: Mark and Alex."

Jess jumped off her seat.

"NO!" she yelled. "You cannot let Alex…"

"Jess! Jess! Calm down. I'm offering to monitor them while they practice the duet. I will make sure no one is bullied."

Jess sat down, a little more relieved.

"Hannah and Cameron." Mr. Schue continued. Jess and Damian's eyes met. Oh, shit. "I've seen you guys a bit distant these last days. I hope that if there is a problem, you will solve it. Of course, Matheus is sick so he won't be participating in this assignment so the last pair are Jess and Damian." They looked at each other again. "I can also monitor in your rehearsals if you want." Schuester told Jess.

"Oh, no. I'm not afraid of him." Jess said.

Jess wasn't afraid but she hated having to work with Damian. Just a couple of days before, he had thrown another slushy to Cameron and to her. Why did she have to work with him again?

"The first three couples will be performing on Tuesday and the other three will do it on Thursday. You all have to sing your songs and you must try to express what you are feeling through them. What I'm trying to do is to make you know each other better and to make you get along so we don't have any more fights before Regionals. Are you ready?" Every member muttered with no enthusiasm. "Alright!"

Alex and Karofsky went to the choir room the following Monday to practice their duet. Mr. Schue was already waiting for them at one side of the piano. Alex was glad Mr. Schue was there with them. He was not afraid of Karofsky, but he was dissatisfied with being paired off with a person that didn't want to sing or to collaborate in the assignment. Alex wanted to show his talent and to do the best duet of the whole group, but that would be difficult. Karofsky was obviously there as an obligation and he didn't even try to hide it.

"Okay. Have you guys already thought about any song in particular?" Mr. Schue asked to the boys.

"No." Mark said. "What should we sing about?"

"Well, you tell me!" Mr. Schuester said. "You must sing about what you want to say to your partner, about how you feel. Alex, what do you want to say to him, how do you feel?"

"Well, I will probably sing about not being afraid of him and about how I think his attitude towards me is stupid." Alex answered.

"… okay… And you Mark? What do you want to sing?"

"I don't want to sing." Mark confessed.

"Well, you must sing. That's the assignment." Mr. Schue insisted. "But let's try to think. How do you feel now?"

"I feel like: "kill me now"." He said rolling his eyes.

"Alright then. We'll try to find something to work with, something related to that idea, and we can do a mash-up with your two songs." The teacher explained happy.

Mark was surprised the teacher actually accepted to think about a song that would reflect how he felt. He didn't know what a mash-up was, but he was curious about what songs he could suggest.

They kept on working in their mash-up during two more hours. They chose the songs and they practiced it a couple of times with Mr. Schue's help.

"Alright! I think we have finished for today!" Schuester said excited.

"Mr. Schue? Could you please let us have a private conversation?" Alex asked him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Alex said.

"Okay, then. See you tomorrow, boys." Mr. Schue said and then took his things and left, still worried for Alex.

"Why do you want to talk to me alone? I'm sorry but I'm not going to prom with you. You are not my type." Mark joked.

"Oh, I know who your type is." Alex said smiling.

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you realized yet?" Alex asked. "I bet you are still denying it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mark asked confused.

"You are gay."

Mark laughed.

"What? You're really funny."

"I saw you checking Damian's ass the other day in the choir room, when he leaned to pick up his chair." Alex explained.

"Wh…?"

"And not just that time. Is that why you are always picking on me?"

"Shut the fuck up! I'm not gay…"

"Okay. Say whatever you want. I just wanted to tell you that I'll be here, if you need to talk to anybody… See you tomorrow in glee club!" Alex said calmly. Then, he left the room and walked home.

"Why are we in the auditorium?" Damian asked.

"Alex and Karofsky are in the choir room right now. Mr. Schue says we can practice here." Jess explained.

They were standing in the opposite sides of a black piano in the stage of the auditorium. They were the only ones in there. None of them wanted to break the silence and they spent a couple of minutes just looking at the black surface of the piano.

"I… I'm sorry about the slushy…" Damian said finally.

"Sure…" Jess said sarcastically.

"No, I really am."

"Yeah, that's why you did it once again after the other slushy you threw to me and the paintball shooting, right?"

"I…" Damian was trying to find the correct words to express his feelings. "Look. I'm really sorry about all that. I don't want you to hate me…"

"Well, it is too late for that. You should have thought about that before you bullied the whole glee club over and over. You can't ask me to not to hate you." Jess told Damian and he looked down with a sad expression. "But I don't want to start an argument right now. We should focus on the song."

"Yes. You're right." Damian said with a sad voice. "What song do we sing?"

"Mr. Schue said we should sing about what we are feeling." The girl explained.

"And, what are you feeling?"

"I'm thinking about a particular Cee Lo song right now." She told Damian with a big fake smile. Damian got the hint. "And you?"

"I don't know."

"Let's think about it for a while, O.K.?" Jess suggested.

They walked through the stage while thinking about possible songs to perform. Damian closed his eyes. How was he feeling? What did he want to say to Jess? He felt very happy because he was with Jess again. He was talking with her and watching her again. Since they did their science project they had not been much time together. He had missed her a lot so he was very happy Mr. Schue had paired them together for that assignment. However, Damian felt sad too. He liked Jess a lot but he knew Jess could never like him back.

**Damian:** _"When I was younger, I saw my daddy cry and curse at the wind"_

"What are you doing?" Jess asked. He had just begun singing out of the sudden.

**Damian:** "_He broke his own heart and I watched as he tried to reassemble it_"

Damian smiled after Jess' question, but he kept on singing.

**Damian:** "_And my momma swore that she would never let herself forget" _

"We're losing time." Jess insisted nervous.

**Damian:** _"And that was the day that I promised I'd never sing of love, if it does not exist"_

"Damian, focus! We have to sing a song about our feelings and that song…"

Damian looked at her in the eye with a smirk on his face and Jess stopped talking. Jess was very confused. Why did he want to sing _The Only Exception_? Wasn't that a love song?

**Damian: **_"But darling, you are the only exception" "You are the only exception" "You are the only exception" "You are the only exception"_

He walked around the piano slowly. Jess could only stand there and watch. It was the first time she listened to him singing, apart from that brief time she found him singing in his room. His voice was smooth and deep. He was singing beautifully and he was very talented, actually. Damian was looking directly at her while singing the chorus of the song. Jess didn't understand what was happening, but she was loving hearing him sing so she just watched him.

**Damian:** _"Maybe I know, somewhere deep in my soul, that love never lasts" "And we have to find other ways to make it alone or keep a straight face"_

**Jess (together):** _"make it alone or keep a straight face"_

Jess suddenly felt the urgent need of singing that line. She just thought it would sound good. In fact, their voices complemented each other's beautifully. Damian walked slowly towards her around the piano, always keeping eye contact.

**Damian:** _"And I've always lived like this" "Keeping a comfortable distance"_

**Jess (together):** _"Keeping a comfortable distance"_

Damian and Jess were closer every time. He seemed happy. Jess was just so confused. She was looking at those bright, blue eyes of his and she couldn't think or move. What was happening to her? She just felt so mesmerized with the song and with Damian. Damian stood just inches in front of her, but she still couldn't move.

**Damian:** _"And up until now I had sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness"_

Damian took a lock of Jess' hair and put it behind her ear. Jess wasn't capable of reacting. What was happening to her and to her body? Her heart was beating really fast and she was completely paralyzed. Did she like Damian? _"Of course you do."_ She thought. _"No, no."_ It was impossible. He was a jerk. She hated Damian, she hated him… didn't she?

**Damian:** _"Because none of it was ever worth the risk" "But you are the only exception" …"You are the only exception"… "You are the only exception"… "You are…"_

Damian sang every time with a lower voice and every time getting closer to Jess. He stopped singing and leaned. He kissed her. He couldn't help it anymore and his whole body was pushing him to do it. He kissed her and he had the best feeling he had ever had. His heart and his stomach were jumping and his brain flew very far away, like flying. He felt incredibly happy, excited and euphoric. But something brought him down to Earth quickly. Damian leaned to one side and held his cheek with one hand. Jess breathed nervously with her own hand raised in the air. She had just slapped him. Their eyes met again but none of them said anything. Jess looked down nervous and then walked away from there, took her bookbag and left in a hurry.

Damian stood there for a moment, still holding his burning cheek. He couldn't have imagined it. It had actually happened. They kissed and he was almost certain Jess kissed him back for a brief second before she slapped him.

Cameron went to Hannah's house to prepare their duet. He had been there a million times and he loved the place. Hannah's mother let him in and he ran to Hannah's room. He knocked the door and came in. Hannah had that sad and distant expression from all those previous days.

"I'm happy Mr. Schue paired us off for this assignment. I wanted to talk to you." Cameron told her.

"Why?" The girl asked with a low voice.

"Come on, Hannah! Don't pretend like nothing's happened! You have been ignoring me for weeks!" The blonde boy said irritated.

"What? We talked yesterday in English class."

"Oh, yeah. You let me borrow your pen!" Cameron said sarcastically waving his arms. "Come on, Hannah. What's wrong? Did I do something to you?"

"No. No. Of course, not." She said.

"Then?" He was really worried. "Is someone bothering you at school?" She shook her head.

"It's not that. I've just been feeling bad lately…"

"Why? Tell me! We are best friends!" Cameron insisted.

"I can't tell you, Cam. I…" she sighed. "I can't tell you."

"But you can tell me anything!" He exclaimed. The girl didn't say anything else. "Are we still friends?"

"Of course we are!" She said then smiling. "I'm sorry. We'll always be friends."

"Alright." He said finally happy. "Then let's focus on that song!"

"Yeah."

"But Hannah, if you want to tell me, I will be right here, okay?"

"Okay." She said, blushing a little.

Next day, they all were sitting in the choir room waiting for the first performance. Matheus was back and everyone else was sitting beside their partner but Jess, who sat as far as she could from Damian. He looked at her very worried.

"Alright, first pair, McKynleigh and Bryce. Would you guys tell us how it's been this duet experience for you?" Mr. Schue asked.

McKynleigh and Bryce got up and placed themselves in front of the rest. Both of them had really big smiles.

"Well, Bryce and I had a fight some days ago. But when we met for practicing the song this weekend, we ended up making peace." She explained with a bright smirk.

"We both apologized and we chose our song for the duet. We hope you enjoy." Bryce added.

McKynleigh took her guitar and started playing it.

**Bryce:** _"Do you hear me? I'm talking to you" "Across the water across the deep blue ocean" "Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying"_

**McKynleigh:** _"Boy I hear you in my dreams" "I feel you whisper across the sea" "I keep you with me in my heart" "You make it easier when life gets hard"_

**Bryce and McKynleigh:** _"I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend" "Lucky to have been where I have been" "Lucky to be coming home again"_

Hannah wiped discretely a tear from her face. She was in love with her best friend too; but she wasn't as happy as McKynleigh and Bryce because she wasn't loved in return. She had had a crush on Cameron since the beginning of the year but that feeling had become stronger. And she couldn't tell him because he liked Marissa. He had never admitted it but Hannah knew. She had thought millions of times about telling him but she couldn't. They had been best friends since they were freshmen. How was she going to tell her best friend she loved him? What would happen to their friendship? She couldn't risk that friendship. She could not lose Cameron, the best person she had ever met. That's why she had grown apart from him during those weeks. She couldn't stand that pain and it killed her to see him hanging out with Marissa. Of course, she was one more of the club now but she couldn't help feeling jealous of her. She had to resign herself and try to be Cameron's friend. She wouldn't be as happy but, at least, they would talk and hang out together again.

**Bryce and McKynleigh:** _"They don't know how long it takes waiting for a love like this" "Every time we say goodbye, I wish we had one more kiss" "I'll wait for you I promise you, I will"_

"_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend" "Lucky to have been where I have been" "Lucky to be coming home again"_

"_Lucky we're in love in every way" "Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed" "Lucky to be coming home someday"_

Their smiles were contagious and soon, every glee member was smiling and swinging to the music.

**Bryce: **_"And so I'm sailing through the sea to an island where we'll meet" "You'll hear the music fill the air" "I'll put a flower in your hair"_

**McKynleigh:** _"Though the breezes through trees" "Move so pretty you're all I see" "As the world keeps spinning round" "You hold me right here, right now"_

"Are you okay?" Cameron whispered to Hannah holding her hand.

"Yeah." She lied.

**Bryce and McKynleigh**: _"I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend" "Lucky to have been where I have been" "Lucky to be coming home again"_

"_Lucky we're in love in every way" "Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed" "Lucky to be coming home someday" "Ooh ooh ooh" "Ooh ooh ooh, ooh"_

McKynleigh played the strings one last time and everybody clapped happily.

"Great job guys! That was beautiful!" Mr. Schue exclaimed. "See? They've solved their problems thanks to their duet. That is what I was looking for! Okay. Next group: Lindsay and Samuel."

Lindsay got up quickly. She seemed very nervous, but Samuel followed her very relaxed.

"Do we have to perform today, Mr. Schue? I think I need to rehearse a couple of times more." Lindsay said worriedly.

"Relax. You'll do fine. We've rehearsed a lot." Samuel told her.

"Right." Lindsay breathed deeply trying to calm down. "Well, Samuel and I had been arguing about our English essay because he didn't work enough and, according to him, I worked too much." Lindsay explained to all of them while Samuel nodded. "In our homework assignment the same thing happened, so we decided to sing one song each. We thought these songs would help us to understand each other's point of view. To do this we have chosen one song from The Princess and the Frog and one song from The Jungle Book and we have done a mush-up."

"Oh. A Disney mash-up!" Marissa said excited.

"Yes. We are going to start now. We hope you like it." Lindsay said.

Lindsay put a CD in the music player and pressed play. Samuel started speaking and Lindsay sang with a beautiful, melodious voice.

**Samuel:** "So just try and relax…"

**Lindsay:** _"That's just gonna have to wait a while…"_

**Samuel:** "Cool it, fall apart, in my backyard…"

**Lindsay:** _"Ain't got time for messing around" "And it's not my style…"_

**Samuel:** "You're working too hard"

**Lindsay:** _"This old town can slow you down" "People taking the easy way" "But I know exactly where I'm going" "Getting closer and closer every da-"_

**Samuel:** "ALL you gotta do is: _Look for the bare necessities" "The simple bare necessities" "Forget about your worries and your strife_"

**Lindsay (in the background)**: _"I'm almost there…"_

**Samuel:** _"I mean the bare necessities" "Old Mother Nature's recipes" "That brings the bare necessities of life"_

**Lindsay (in the background):** _"I'm almost there…"_

Everyone watched them smiling because the performance was very funny and they thought their mash-up was also very original.

**Lindsay:** _"And I'm almost there, I'm almost there" "People down here think I'm crazy, but I don't care"_

**Samuel (in the background):** _"The bare necessities of life will come to you"_

**Lindsay:** _"There ain't nothing gonna stop me now 'cause I'm almost there"_

**Samuel:** _"Look for the bare necessities" "The simple bare necessities" "Forget about your worries and your strife"_

**Lindsay (in the background):** _"I'm almost there…"_

**Samuel:** _"I mean the bare necessities" "That's why a bear can rest at ease" "With just the bare necessities of life"_

**Lindsay:** _"So_ _I work real hard each and every day" "Now things for sure are going my way"_

**Samuel (in the background):** _"The bare necessities of life will come to you"_

**Lindsay:** _"Just doing what I do" "Look out boys, I'm coming through"_

**Samuel (in the background):** _"They'll come to you"_

**Lindsay:** _"And I'm almost there, I'm almost there" "People gonna come here from everywhere" "And I'm almost ther-"_

**Samuel:** _"Look for the bare necessities" "The simple bare necessities" "Forget about your worries and your strife"_

**Lindsay (in the background):** _"I'm almost there…"_

**Samuel:** _"I mean the bare necessities" "Old Mother Nature's recipes" "That bring the bare necessities of life"_

They were interrupting each other all the time and singing parts of their own songs in the background. Mr. Schue and the kids thought they had prepared it and practiced it wonderfully. Everything fitted perfectly in the right moment.

**Lindsay:** _"I've climbed the mountain, I've crossed the river" "And I'm almost there"  
_

**Samuel (together):** _"Look for the bare necessities…"_

**Lindsay (together):** _"I'm almost there"_

**Samuel (together):** _"Just the bare necessities of life"_

**Lindsay (together):** _"I'm almost there"_

**Samuel (together):** _"Just the bare necessities of life!" "Yeah!"_

**Lindsay (together):** _"I'm almoooooost theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!"_

Everyone applauded madly. They loved it.

"Wow. Lindsay! We didn't know you had that inside you! You should sing more!" Mr. Schue said very excited while the girl blushed. "Now, THAT is a mash-up. This is the perfect example. In a mash-up you take two different things and create a new great combination! PERFECT, guys!"

Everyone congratulated them. Marissa and Emily were next. They stood up and looked at the rest of the group, but they were not smiling like the others. The girls were still angry at each other.

"Well, girls, you have to beat that!" Mr. Schue said.

"We'll try." Marissa said. "Emily and I have chosen a song about the fight we had some days ago. We have changed the lyrics a bit so they could adapt to our situation." She explained.

The two girls adopted the same position and they began singing.

**Emily and Marissa:** _"Uuuuuh Uuuuuh Uuuuuh Uuuuuh…"_

They were doing the same choreography. It was evident they had both been cheerleaders because they had a perfect coordination while dancing. The girls placed themselves in front of Damian and looked at him.

**Emily (pointing at Marissa):** _"She, she ain't real" "She ain't gon' be able to love you like I will"_

Damian blushed when he became the focus of attention. Jess liked seeing Damian being uncomfortable though.

**Marissa:** _"She is a stranger" "You and I have history or don't you remember?" "Sure, she's got it all but baby is that really what you want?"_

They moved back and Emily pointed with her hand to the red-haired girl and to the whole glee club.

**Emily:** _"Bless your soul, you got your head in the clouds" "They made a fool out of you and, girl, they're bringing you down"_

**Marissa:** _"He made your heart melt but you're cold to the core" "Now rumour has it, you ain't got his love anymore"_

The choreography was perfectly done and the girls knew perfectly how to move sensually. They both took some small pieces of paper they had on their seats and they give them to the rest of glee members while singing the chorus. The group began to sing the chorus with them while looking at the pieces of paper.

**Emily and Marissa:** _"Rumour has it" "Rumour has it"__ "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it"_

**New Directions:** _"Rumour…" "Rumour…" …_

Emily and Marissa were giving the small papers to the kids while they were singing and the glee kids read them. "Stupid" one said, "Whore" another one said, "Bitch", "Loser", "Asskisser", "Gleek", "Brainless"… The girls had written insults about the other one and these were related to the rumors that were circulating around school since their fight.

**Emily (pointing at Hannah):** _"She is now your friend" "But I'm guessing that's the reason that you've stayed" "I heard you been missing me" "You've been telling people things you shouldn't be"_

**Marissa:** _"Like when we creep out, she ain't around" "Haven't you heard the rumours?" "Bless your soul, you got your head in the clouds" "You made a fool out of me and, girl, I'm bringing you down"_

**Emily:** _"They made your heart melt yet I'm cold to the core" "But rumour has it they're the ones you're leaving me for"_

They danced the choreography again looking at each other with angry eyes and they gave some more sheets of paper to the glee members.

**Emily and Marissa:** _"Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it"_

**New Directions:** _"Rumour…" "Rumour…" …_

They finished the chorus and they were standing in the middle of the choir room, looking at each other's eyes and catching their breaths. They seemed to be feeling sad then, not angry.

**Emily:** _"All of these words whispered in my ear" "Tell a story that I cannot bear to hear"_

**Marissa:** _"Just 'cause I said it, it don't mean that I meant it"_

Marissa took a paper that said "Slut" and, looking at Emily in the eye, tore the paper in two pieces and threw them to the floor.

**Marissa:** _"People say crazy things"_

Emily looked surprised but she also took a paper that said "Stupid" and tore it.

**Emily:** _"Just 'cause I said it, don't mean that I meant it" "Just 'cause you heard it"_

The room was completely silent while everybody watched surprised at the two girls. They smiled briefly and threw their fist in the air, continuing the performance, but with big smiles this time.

**Emily and Marissa:** _"Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it" "Rumour has it"_

**New Directions:** _"Rumour…" "Rumour…" …_

**Emily and Marissa:** _"But rumour has you are the one I'm leaving them for."_

Everyone was clapping and smiling. Marissa and Emily hugged.

"I'm sorry." Marissa said.

"No, I'm sorry about what I did to you and what I said…" Emily said with a sad expression. "I've missed you. I missed my friend."

"Well, that was a great performance." Mr. Schue said a bit moved. "I'm happy this assignment has helped you to make peace."

Marissa and Emily were smiling at each other when the bell rang. Every kid got up and picked up their bags.

"Ok, guys! The other three pairs will perform on Thursday! Give the best you've got!" Mr. Schue reminded to them.

"Jess! Jess!" Damian shouted but the girl ran away through the door as fast as she could.

Damian went to the hallway but he couldn't find her. She had not talked to him since he kissed her and they had nothing prepared yet to sing on Thursday. Damian saw Emily putting some books in her locker and he leaned in the locker next to hers.

"Listen, Emily. I'm sorry about what happened at your house." He said. "I haven't apologized yet. I was very rude to you."

"It's okay, Damian." She said smiling but still sad after her performance. "You did nothing wrong. The only problem is… well, you've heard the rumors. Now people say that I'm a slut." She said trying to laugh but failing.

Damian looked at her worried. She was sad and hurt about those comments. It was the first time Damian saw any kind of vulnerability in Emily, she always seemed so strong…

"Emily." He said looking at her very serious. "I know you are looking for someone who loves you. And you are going to find him. You are going to find somebody who will really love you and will make you happy. You are incredible. You don't have to throw yourself around like if you don't matter. You matter, Emily... Don't forget it."

Emily looked at him with teary eyes.

"Jeez, Damian." She said with a smirk. "You sound like congressman Hummel."

Damian laughed hard.

"Thanks." She said looking him in the eye. "But don't think I'm going to give up on you, I still want that prom crown on my head!" She finished smiling and walking away.

Damian stood in the middle of the hallway surprised by her comment and her sudden mood change.

"Okay. Today is Thursday so we are going to listen to the rest of the duets!" Mr. Schue said. "Mark, Alex, show us what you've got."

Alex got up from his chair proudly while Mark seemed reluctant to do the performance.

"Well, as you know, I don't think I got the best partner to do this assignment." Alex said glancing briefly at Karofsky. "But I will do my best and I'll try to pay a little tribute to Christina, taking as reference all the bullying I've been through." Mark rolled his eyes "Mark, on the contrary, will sing another song about how he feels about being in the glee club."

They played the music and the number began.

**Alex:** "After all that you put me through, you think I'd despise you." "But in the end I wanna thank you, 'cause you've made me that much stronger."

**Mark:** _"Soy un perdedor" "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?" "Soy un perdedor" "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?"_

Alex started the mash-up talking slowly and the whole glee club found interesting to hear Mark singing for the first time.

**Alex:** _"Well I thought I knew you, thinkin' that you were true"_

"_Guess I, I couldn't trust called your bluff time is up, cause I've had enough"_

"_I heard you're going round playing the victim now"_

"_But don't even begin feeling I'm the one to blame"_

"_Cause you dug your own grave"_

"_After all of the fights and the lies 'cause you're wanting to haunt me"_

"_But that won't work anymore, no more, it's over"_

"_Cause if it wasn't for all of your torture, I wouldn't' know how to be this way now and never back down"_

"_So I wanna say thank you" "Cause it…"_

**Mark (together):**_ "Soy un perdedor" "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?" _

**Alex (together):**_ "Makes me that much stronger" "Makes me work a little bit harder" "It makes me that much wiser" "So thanks for making me a fighter"_

**Mark (together):**_ "Soy un perdedor" "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?" _

**Alex (together):**_ "Made me learn a little bit faster" "Made my skin a little bit thicker" "Makes me that much smarter" "So thanks for making me…" "YOU WON'T STOP ME!"_

Alex was completely stunning. His voice was so powerful that everybody was speechless. Mark was doing okay but Alex was simply amazingly talented.

**Mark (together)**_: "Soy un perdedor"_

**Alex (together):**_ "I am a fighter and I"_

**Mark (together):**_ "Soy un perdedor"_

**Alex (together):**_ "I ain't gonna stop"_

**Mark (together):**_ "So why don't you kill me?"_

**Alex (together)**_: "There is no turning back" "I've had enough"_

**Mark (together):**_ "Soy un perdedor" "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?" _

**Alex (together):**_ "Makes me that much stronger" "Makes me work a little bit harder" "It makes me that much wiser" "So thanks for making me a fighter"_

**Mark (together):**_ "Soy un perdedor" "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?" _

**Alex (together):**_ "Made me learn a little bit faster" "Made my skin a little bit thicker" "Makes me that much smarter" "So thanks for making me a fighter" _

Alex breathed deeply trying to catch some air while everyone applauded.

"That was amazing!" Hannah exclaimed.

"It was awesome!" Matheus added.

"It was really impressive. I hope this will be the first step in the cooperation between the former members of the glee club and the members of the football team." Mr. Schue said. "I'm glad we can work together. It's the only way we will be able to win Regionals next week. Okay. Cameron, Hannah, you are next." Mr. Schuester told them stretching out his arm.

Cameron and Hannah walked to the centre of the choir room.

"Well, Hannah and I were paired off because we weren't hanging out as much as we always did." Cameron explained. "I mean, we were best friends but we had some problems these last weeks, so that's why Mr. Schue put us together for the assignment. We've been talking a lot since we started practicing our duet, and we realized how important our friendship was for us." Cameron continued while Hannah nodded. "So we thought we should sing a song about our friendship and we came up with a song that we hope will help us all to get along."

"You can join if you want to." Hannah added.

Cameron took his guitar and he smiled at Hannah. He started playing a well-known melody and the kids gasped in excitement.

**Cameron:** _"So no one told you life was gonna be this way" "Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A."_

**Hannah:** _"It's like you're always stuck in second gear" "When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but…"_

**New Directions:** _"I'll be there for you…"_

**Cameron:** _"When the rain starts to pour"_

**New Directions:** _"I'll be there for you…"_

**Hannah:** _"Like I've been there before"_

**New Directions:** _"I'll be there for you…"_

**Cameron and Hannah:** _"'Cause you're there for me too"_

The rest of the kids in New Directions joined them to sing the chorus and everybody was smiling and dancing in their seats.

**Cameron:** _"Your still in bed at 10 and work began at 8" "You burned your breakfast so far, things are going great"_

**Hannah:** _"Your mother warned you there'd be days like these" "But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees"_

**New Directions:** _"And I'll be there for you…"_

Almost all the glee members stood up and ran to dance in the centre of the choir room with Hannah and Cameron. Mark and Damian remained sat on their chairs though.

**Hannah:** _"When the rain starts to pour"_

**New Directions:** _"I'll be there for you…"_

**Cameron:** _"Like I've been there before"_

**New Directions:** _"I'll be there for you…"_

**Cameron and Hannah:** _"'Cause you're there for me too"_

**Cameron:** _"No one could ever know me" "No one could ever see me" "Since you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me" "Someone to face the day with, make it through all the mess with" "Someone I'll always laugh with, even under the worst I'm best with you"_

**Hannah:** _"It's like you're always stuck in second gear" "When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year"_

Emily grabbed Damian and Mark's hands and made them join the group.

**New Directions:** _"I'll be there for you" "When the rain starts to pour" "I'll be there for you…" "Like I've been there before" "I'll be there for you…" "'Cause you're there for me too"_

"_I'll be there for you" "I'll be there for you…" "I'll be there for you…" "'Cause you're there for me too"_

They all laughed and clapped happily.

"Very, very good." Mr. Schue said smiling. "That's the true spirit of the glee club. This is exactly what we needed before Regionals! It was perfect, guys, thank you!"

All the kids came back to their seats to see the last performance. Damian sat too and looked at Jess. She had not answered any of his calls and she had ignored him completely since the kiss in the auditorium.

"Now there's only one number left. Damian, Jess, it's your turn!" Mr. Schue told them.

Damian opened his mouth, but he didn't know how to explain what had happened. He looked at Jess looking for help but she crossed her arms and looked away.

"Sir, we have nothing prepared for today." Damian told their teacher.

He looked at Jess surprised.

"What happened, Jess? Did Damian not participate?" Schue asked her.

"No, I've called her, a lot." Damian explained. "But we…" He couldn't tell him about the kiss, which was the reason why Jess was so mad at him. "She just didn't want to sing with me…"

"Wow. Jess, I'm very disappointed in you." The teacher said with frowned eyebrows.

"It's no big deal. We can finish early today." Jess said shrugging.

"I don't think so." The teacher argued. "You still have to do the assignment."

"But we…" Jess said.

"You must sing. If you haven't prepared it, then you'll have to improvise it."

All the kids looked at Damian and Jess. She was still surprised about what the man had said. They had to improvise their duet?

What?" Jess asked.

Damian got up and placed himself in the centre of the classroom. Everyone was waiting for her to follow him.

"Come on, Jess! You must sing your duet, mash-up or whatever you want to do." Mr. Schue said.

Jess walked angry next to Damian.

"What can we sing, Mr. Schue?" Damian asked the teacher.

"Sing about how you feel. It's the best way to express your emotions."

Jess looked at him worried. If he dared to sing _The only exception_ again…

"I don't know what song…" Damian whispered blushing.

"How do you feel?" Mr. Schue repeated.

"I don't know. I'm okay. I feel good." The boy said.

"There you go." Schuester said raising his eyebrows.

"What? Like _I feel good_ by James Brown?" Damian asked surprised.

"It's a good start. Then Jess can join you with whatever song she wants." He said looking at the girl, who was still giving a withering look to Damian.

"O- Okay." Damian said nervous, still blushing. _"I feel good… I knew that I wouldn't of…"_

Damian laughed, that was embarrassing.

"Come on! Show more confidence!" The man said.

Damian closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

**Damian:** (_I feel good_ by James Brown)_"WOAH! I feel good, I knew that I wouldn't of" "I feel good, I knew that I wouldn't of" "So good, so good, I got you"_

Damian was smiling while he was singing and he looked at Jess when he sang the last part. Everyone smiled when they heard him sing. They had no idea he had such a beautiful voice and so much talent.

**Damian:** _"I feel nice, like sugar and spice" "I feel nice, like sugar and spice" "So nice, so nice, I got you"_

**Jess:** (_Shut up_ by The Black Eyed Peas) _"Shut up, just shut up, shut up" "Shut up, just shut up, shut up" "Shut up, just shut up, shut up" "Shut it up, just shut up"_

Jess message was quite clear but Damian frowned and kept on singing, ignoring her interruption.

**Damian:** _"I feel good…"_

Jess put her fingers in her ears and cut him short again.

**Jess:** (_Can't get you outta my head_ by Kylie Minogue) _"La la la… la la la la la…" "La la la… la la la la la…"_

**Damian:** (_Listen_ from Dreamgirls) _"Listen…" "To the song here in my heart" "I melody I start" "But can't complete" "Listen…"_

Damian was trying to sing while Jess looked at him with eyes full of hate. They chose different songs depending on what they wanted to say to each other.

**Jess:** (_Stupid_ _girls_ by P!nk) "_The disease is growing, it's epidemic, I'm scared that there ain't a cure" "The world believes it and I'm going crazy" "I cannot take anymore!"_

**Damian:** (_Why can't we be friends _by Smash Mouth) _"Why can't we be friends?" "Why can't we be friends?" "Why can't we be friends?" "Why can't we be friends?"_

Damian did want to be her friend. He didn't even ask for her to like him too, but he would like her not to detest him.

**Jess:** (_Apologize_ by Timbaland feat. One Republic) _"But it's too late to apologize…" "It's too late…"_

**Damian: **_"Why can't we be friends?" "Why can't we be friends?" "Why can't we be friends?" "Why can't we be friends?"_

**Jess:** (_Hot & Cold_ by Katy Perry) _"Cause you're hot then you're cold" "You're yes then you're no" "You're in and you're out" "You're up and you're down" "You're wrong when it's right" "It's black and it's white" "We fight, we break up" "We kiss, we make up" "You, you don't really want to stay, no" "You, but you don't really want to go-o" "You're hot then you're cold" "You're yes then you're no" "You're in and you're out" "You're up and you're down"_

Jess really hated that about him. She didn't know what to think about him because sometimes he was the biggest of jerks and other times he was really nice.

**Damian:** (_I am changing_ from Dreamgirls) _"But I am changing-"_

**Jess:** (_Take a bow_ by Rihanna) _"Oooooh, and the award for the best lie goes to you!"_

**Damian:** _"I…"_

**Jess:** _"Shut up, just shut up, shut up"_

Damian snorted angry. Jess did not let him sing and he was tired of that childish attitude of hers.

**Damian:** (_I kissed a girl_ by Katy Perry) _"I kissed a girl and I liked it" "The taste of her cherry chapstick…"_

Jess opened her eyes a lot. Damian smirked satisfied when he saw he annoyed her. _"How can he sing about that in front of everybody?"_ Jess thought. She hated him. Fortunately, the rest of the club looked confused because they didn't understand the real meaning of that song.

**Jess:** (_Fuck you_ by Lily Allen) _"Fuck you!" "Fuck you very, very muuuuuuuch" "Cause we hate what you do and we hate you whole crew" "so please don't stay in touch" "Fuck you!" "Fuck you very, very muuuuuuuuuuch" "Cause your words don't translate and it's getting quite late" "so please don't stay in touch"_

Mr. Schue looked at Jess. He was not happy about that language and her choice of songs.

**Damian:** (_Feeling good_ by Michael Buble) _"It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life"_

**Jess:** (_Stop_ by Sam Brown) _"You better stop befoooore…"_

**Damian (together):** "_Ha, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life…"_

**Jess (together):** _"Uuuuuuh you better stop! Stop!"_

**Damian (together):** _"IT'S A NEW DAWN, IT'S A NEW DAY, IT'S A NEW LIFE" "For me…"_

**Jess (together):** _"Stop!" "Oh, stop!" "You better stop!" "Baby, stop!"_

**Damian:** _"And I'm feeling good…"_

**Jess:** _"STOP!"_

The classroom was silent and Damian and Jess breathed deeply looking at each other in the eye. Nobody clapped; they were still confused, shocked and impressed by their capacity of pulling off that song without rehearsing. Finally, Mr. Schue spoke.

"Okay, guys, that was… intense, but it doesn't achieve the purpose of the assignment, which was to make you guys get along…" The bell rang and everyone picked their bookbags. "Remember! Next week we'll have Regionals, think about which songs you would like to sing!"

The kids waved at the teacher and got out of the choir room. Most of them were reconciled but Jess and Damian still had problems, as always.

_Notes:_

_Hooray! Finally! It's done. I was tired of writing. This chapter was so long! Sorry again for posting this so late but, you know, I had some work to do from college and it's now when I have a little more time._

_So many songs in this chapter! Did you like it? Did you like the kiss? I like this chapter a lot because we can see a lot of stories of different characters._

_By the way, if you don't feel familiar with the character of Jess you can always imagine yourself there XP. That's why I didn't give a detailed description of her._

_So, a lot more in next chapter. They're singing in Regionals! What will happen?_

**NEXT CHAPTER: REGIONALS**

_**Songs:**_

_The only exception – Paramore._

_Lucky – Jason Mars._

_Almost there – The Princess and the Frog_

_The bare necessities – The Jungle Book_

_Rumour has it – Adele_

_Fighter – Christina Aguilera_

_Loser – Beck_

_I'll be there for you – The Rembrandts_

_(Jess and Damian's songs inside the chapter)_


	10. Chapter 10

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 10/17: REGIONALS**

"Alright! This Friday we have Regionals!" Mr. Schue said excited to the glee club. "We should rehearse the songs and create a choreography before it's too late. We have just a few days to practice."

"Which is our set list?" Alex asked.

"That's the interesting part!" Mr. Schue said with a big smile. "I want you to participate in the songs selection so we are all going to choose our songs together." The kids looked at him with interest. "First, each one of you is going to write in the board a song you think could be great for Regionals. Then, each one is going to vote for 3 songs from the board and we will perform the three most voted songs."

The whole club nodded in agreement and they began writing their songs in the white board of the choir room. Later, they voted three songs each. The songs proposed by Hannah, Samuel and Damian were the most voted ones when they finished.

"Alright. It seems we have our set list!" The teacher said. "We could do _My heart will go on_ first, as a solo, and then the other two as a group number, right? Hannah, do you want to have the solo?"

"Oh, no, Mr. Schue. I chose the song because I like it but I don't think I should sing it." The girl explained. "We should let Jess sing it, she has a higher range and we have been wanting her to sing in a competition since Sectionals!"

"Are you okay with that decision, Jess?" Mr. Schue asked her.

"Yes, I mean, for me it's fine, if everyone else agrees."

The rest of the club loved Hannah's suggestion so, at the end of the day, New Directions were rehearsing the two group songs and Jess was nailing her solo number.

Friday in the afternoon all the glee club members, Mr. Schue and his wife, Emma, were sitting in the bus in their way to the city where Regionals were held. It was a three hour ride so all the kids were talking, joking and singing while they were waiting for the bus to arrive.

It wasn't much different from the time they went to Sectionals. They still weren't popular at school and nobody cared about their past victory, although people paid them a little more attention since they faced the bullies and the cheerios in the cafeteria. However, they were way more relaxed than when they went to Sectionals. At that time, they had one member left just minutes before the competition, but now they had even one extra person so they were not so nervous. Besides, Sue Sylvester had being making a lot of interviews lately since her cheerleading team won Nationals so, hopefully, she would be busy enough to not plan their defeat.

The bus arrived to the building where Regionals would be hosted. New Directions took their baggage and clothes and carried them to their dressing room. Then, they went back to the big entrance hallway.

"Okay, guys. I'm going to give our set list to the judges. I heard we are the first group to perform so you have some spare time to do whatever you want now. We'll meet in the dressing room at half past eight." Mr. Schue told everybody. "We are so going to win Regionals!"

Everyone cheered in agreement and then they started to walk in groups through the place. It was a big building with a red carpeted floor. There were a lot of people already there, some of them were students from the different glee clubs but there were also people from the audience already, probably relatives of some performers because it was still very early. Jess left Cameron and Hannah to watch some small stalls they had prepared for the occasion. Most of them sold food but they also had many other things, like handmade jewelry or books.

"Why are you following me?" Jess asked looking at the books.

"I'm not following you!" Damian replied quickly.

"Yes. You are going exactly the same way I'm going."

"And what makes you think it has something to do with you? I just wanted to see what they were selling. Maybe I find something I like." Damian said defensive.

Jess shrugged and kept on walking. She and Damian had not been able to have a normal conversation since they rehearsed their duet in the auditorium. Everyone else was friendlier since their teamwork assignment, even Emily and Mark, but things had gone worse for Jess and Damian. She was still so confused about what happened. Although she made her point very clear. He kissed her and she slapped him.

"I thought…" Damian said, still walking behind her. "I thought maybe we could do something together…"

Jess turned to him and frowned. Damian blushed.

"I mean, not like, not to…" Why was so difficult for him to explain? "You know, everyone is getting along since last week's assignment. Everyone but us. I thought Mr. Schue would be happy if we could at least talk to each other. We are not going to look like a real group on stage if we are mad at each other."

"Well, that's one of the problems of slushing people. They may end up being mad at you. It's a shame you didn't know that because, normally, I'm really nice and friendly." Jess said with a sharp tone.

She walked faster every time towards some wide stairs that went to a lower floor, where the rest of the kids were talking and eating some sandwiches.

"Well, I want to make amends." Damian continued. "I don't want more fights between us…" Jess snorted angry. "I don't want you to yell at me or slap me…"

Jess turned to him very quickly to complain but they were in the middle of the stairs and with the quick move she lost her balance. She had no floor under her right foot and she was feeling how gravity was pulling her body towards the lowest part of the stairs. She was about to fell when her back collided with another thing before the floor and two soft hands held hers tightly. She looked to the person that stopped her fall and she found a handsome boy just beside her.

"Watch out!" He said with a wide, charming smile. "No one would want to see that beautiful face hurt."

Jess blinked, still surprised. The boy was a tall, brown-haired young man. He had sparkly eyes and a shining smile full of perfect teeth. He wore a dark-blue blazer and a red and blue striped tie. A big red 'D' could be seen on a side of his blazer so Jess guessed he was a student from one of the glee clubs that would perform that night.

"Thanks…" Jess said. "Do you… Are you performing tonight too?"

"Yes. I'm the lead singer of the Warblers." He answered with the same smile.

"From Dalton Academy?" Jess asked.

They knew about the Warblers. They were some tough competitors. Damian looked from Jess to the Warbler boy, not amused.

"Yeah." He said laughing, he was glad people knew about the Warblers and Dalton. He stretched out his arm. "Hi, I'm Kevin Brown."

"Hi. Jess Hudson."

"I'm Damian Anderson." Damian said, though nobody asked him.

"Jess Hudson… From McKinley High?" Kevin asked. Jess nodded surprised he recognized her. "I've heard about you and your team. They say you are the star of the club. Next Rachel Berry…"

Kevin smiled. Jess blushed. Damian frowned.

"No, I'm not…" Jess began saying.

"Hey, Jess. The show doesn't start until an hour. Would you like to take some coffee so we can learn more about our respective glee clubs?" Kevin asked.

Jess looked at Damian for a brief moment.

"Okay." She said smiling.

"Alright. Let's go then. Nice to meet you, _Darren_." Kevin said looking at the other boy for the first time since they met.

Jess walked down the stairs with Kevin and they both went to a cafeteria inside the building, near to the entrance. Damian walked down the stairs quickly and went to the rest of the glee club. He grabbed Mark's arm and pulled off him.

"What's wrong?" He asked worried.

"Come on! We're getting some coffee." Damian simply said.

Damian and Mark ordered a couple of coffees and sat two tables away from Jess and Kevin. Mark examined his nervous friend and then the other table.

"Are you spying on Jess?" Mark asked, making Damian blush a little.

"No, I'm spying on that Warbler guy." Damian lied. "He's up to something." He whispered.

The two of them could hear Kevin and Jess conversation so the other two could probably hear them if they spoke loudly. They had to be careful.

"That sounds amazing." Jess was saying. "There, at McKinley, no one thinks glee club is cool."

Damian noticed the disappointment in Jess' voice. He and Mark were drinking in complete silence, just listening to the others' conversation.

"Well, being in Dalton is not so great either." Kevin said to comfort Jess. "It's a boy school, you know? I miss talking to girls. But I've been lucky for coming here to Regionals and meeting a beautiful girl like you."

Damian choked with his drink while Mark was watching him with a confused expression.

"As I was saying," Jess said after a brief pause. "I think it's great for us to have a healthy competition…"

"Why are we here, Damian?" Mark asked in whispers. "Why are you worried about this guy?"

"Don't you see it? Why is he so interested in talking with a member of another glee club?" Damian said. "He's planning something against us."

He was making all that up, of course. He just wanted to listen to their conversation. Kevin couldn't be more obvious about his intentions and Damian couldn't hate him more. He had to roll his eyes every time he spoke. Why had he to be so hateful?

"What if he just wants to meet Jess?" Mark asked, dismissing the paranoid ideas.

Damian frowned and took another sip of his drink. He had to catch up with the conversation again.

"The boy that was with you in the stairs…" Kevin said. "Is there anything between you two?"

Damian stood still and tried to listen as best as he could.

"No, he's a jerk." Jess answered. "He is one of the persons I told you before that cause problems in our glee club. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing important. It's just that he has been spying on us since we've been here. He's sitting just a couple of tables away." He explained with a loud voice. It was obvious he wanted Damian to hear him.

"Yeah. I know. Just ignore him. He's just stupid and he is always trying to annoy me." Jess said.

Damian saw Mark watching him. His face was turning red of embarrassment. He stood up and left and Mark followed him soon.

Damian dressed with black shirt and pants and a blue tie. All the girls were wearing blue dresses so the boys wore matching ties. He went out of the dressing room, still a bit angry about what happened before. He hated Kevin a lot and he couldn't calm down. He was very nervous too because of another reason. It was the first time he was going to perform in front of an audience.

He went to the stage. The curtains were closed and they were the first to perform, so everyone in the club would be meeting there within some minutes. Jess would be the first one to perform and then they would join her.

"Calm down, you'll do great." Jess told him looking at his shaking hand.

"No, I…" Damian turned to her but stopped. He had always thought she was beautiful but with that blue dress she was just stunning. The dress, the hair, her smile. Damian could not take his eyes out of her. "Wow…"

Jess looked away quickly and they remained silent for a while in the empty stage.

"That Kevin guy… He is the main singer of the Warblers, right?" Damian asked. He wanted to talk about something to break the silence and that was all he had in his mind.

"Yes. He seems very talented and I guess he has a good voice. We'll see when his group performs." Jess said looking at the back side of the curtain.

"Are you guys… meeting… after Regionals?" Damian said. Why was he asking that?

"Why are you so interested in Kevin, Damian?" Jess asked.

"Because he's the enemy!" He lied.

"Just on the stage, Damian, when we are not performing we can be friends."

"I think he's planning something. Why was he so interested in talking with "the star" of New Directions?"

"Yeah, yeah. He is planning our destruction! It would be stupid to think he wants to talk with me because he likes me!" Jess yelled sarcastically.

"I don't trust him." Damian only said. He was getting angrier every time, but it was not 'angry' exactly, it was another feeling he had not felt so strongly before. "He's a Warbler."

"And he has been nicer to New Directions that you have ever been!"

"See? He has been too nice for someone in the competition! All that smiles, that stupid way of talking…"

"What it is going on with you?"

"I don't like to see him talking with you!" Damian shouted.

"Excuse me?! Will you stop that stupid nonsense and say what is your problem with him?"

"I… I…"

"Why don't you like him? Why do you make these stupid excuses about it?" Damian opened his mouth but he wasn't able to answer before Jess continued. "What's wrong Damian? It's because he's the leader of his club? It's because he's more mature than you?"

"No, it's…"

"Are you upset because he's better than you?"

"I just don't like him…"

"Are you jealous of him, Damian? That's why you don't like him? Because he's nicer than you?"

"No, I…"

"Because we can have a normal conversation?"

"I just…"

"Are you jealous?"

"No… Yes…"

"Well, if you are jealous that is your problem! You could have been nicer! You could have joined New Directions before! When would you understand that the problem is you, not him? Why would you have to be jealous? Why wouldn't we be friends? Why would I have to stop talking to him?"

"It's not that…"

"Then what is it? Why don't you like him?"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!"

They were both looking at each other in the eye while breathing loudly. Damian had grabbed Jess arm in his hand in that last impulse. Had he just said that? It always annoyed him when Jess would not let him talk and, with all that fury and all those thoughts in his head, he had just said the three words he should have never said. Damian's blue eyes were waiting to see any reaction in her. Then, very slowly, Jess pointed at him with her finger while her eyes were every time more watering.

"That is the problem with you, Damian." She whispered with a lot of anger. "You think you can always get what you want, but you don't have any idea of what you want. Sometimes you are mean, sometimes you are friendly. Sometimes you are brave, sometimes you are a coward. How can you say you love me when you have been humiliating, not only me, but all my friends and doing nothing about it?" Jess words attacked Damian like a thousand bullets, against his body and heart. Of course, there was nothing new about what she was telling, but Damian's hopes of her liking him back were every time smaller. "You are so naïve, Damian. If you want to love someone you will have to learn to be just one person before, not two. And don't make me look like a fool because I could never be with a person that has done to me what you have. Don't ever kiss me again if you are going to throw me a slushy the next day." She finished then crying and she left the stage.

Damian stood there alone, thinking and regretting everything. Jess was right and he knew it. However, he had always hoped that she would forgive him in the future and that they could be together one day. He loved her. As he had just said. He didn't like her anymore. It was stronger than that. All that time they were together in glee club. Every time he saw her in the hallways. He was falling more and more in love with her.

Jess passed the dressing rooms and continued running until she bumped into Kevin.

"Hey, Jess… What's wrong?" He said worried.

Tears were coming out of her eyes, but she couldn't answer. She didn't know why she was crying so she continued sobbing. Kevin put his arm around her and he guided her through the narrow hallways. They climbed up several stairs and walked a lot.

"Where are we going?" Jess asked finally.

"Just to a calm place, where we can talk." Kevin said.

They entered a small room. It was an old dressing room where the surfaces of all the tables were covered in dust. There were no people around. That floor was empty and everyone was taking seats five or six floors under, in the auditorium.

"What happened?" Kevin asked holding Jess cheek.

"Damian." Jess said. After the confused look of Kevin she added. "He just said something to me…"

Kevin knew Jess didn't want to talk about it so he didn't insist.

"I should go back. We are about to start the performance." Jess said wiping her tears.

"You are too upset right now. I will leave you alone a couple of minutes, so you can relax before singing. Okay?"

Jess nodded. Kevin stood up and left the room. He closed the door after him and sighed. He picked some shining keys from his pocket and locked the door.

"Sorry, Jess." He whispered to himself.

The rest of the glee club had joined Damian backstage. Mr. Schue arrived quickly.

"Alright, guys. We are finally at Regionals. We have rehearsed a lot, we have an incredibly amount of talent and we are going to give it all tonight. So… wait, where is Jess?" He asked, interrupting the speech.

Damian looked away feeling guilty.

"Is she in the dressing room?" Samuel asked.

"No, there's no one there now." McKynleigh confirmed.

"Okay. Let's go look for her, we must start in a few minutes!" Mr. Schue ordered.

Jess was so confused. Why was she crying? All she had said was true, wasn't it? Of course, what Damian said was shocking but that was not a reason to cry. The problem was that it was not only shocking, but that Jess liked it too. She liked what she heard just like she liked their kiss at the beginning. Of course, if she thought about it, she could not like Damian, but if she didn't think about it… Jess shook her head in confusion. She had such mixed feelings. But there was no time for feelings of for thinking anymore. She had to perform soon and she had to go to the stage and leave her emotions aside. Jess stood up then and opened the door, but it didn't open. Jess pulled stronger but the door didn't give way. Jess pushed, pulled, knocked, hit, kicked, but the door was still there, as closed as it could be. Jess' brain was thinking at full speed. The door was closed. She was in the most abandoned side of the building while all the people were waiting for her performance. They were waiting for her, for "the star" of New Directions.

"Kevin…" She whispered.

"She is not in the dressing room or in any place around here." Bryce explained.

"She is not in the bathrooms either." Lindsay explained.

"And she left her phone in the dressing room so we cannot call her." Hannah added.

"When it's the last time you saw her?" The teacher asked.

"When she got dressed she got out the room and she came to the stage." Marissa explained.

"Damian was here, did you see her?" Mark said.

Everybody looked at Damian. He couldn't hide all the guiltiness of his face.

"What did you say to her?" Mr. Schue asked understanding his expression.

"Nothing! I just… Well, maybe she got a little upset about something…" Damian said nervous.

"What did you say? She is not the kind of girl that would abandon us for one stupid comment!" Cameron said.

Damian thought the same way. That was why he was so surprised Jess had not come back yet. Would she be so upset she would not sing? No, that was impossible.

"I don't know, I don't remember…" Everyone looked at him. No one believed him. "Anyways, it was not so important for her to abandon the competition!" He explained desperate.

"Maybe Emily has something to do with it." Hannah said. "She is a spy for Sue after all, isn't she?" The comment made everyone to turn to Emily.

"What? No! I did nothing! You maybe think that I'm only Sue's cheerio but I like the glee club now, even if I would never admit it back at school." The girl explained a bit hurt by the accusation.

"Yes. I believe her. She didn't do anything." Marissa said, smiling at her friend.

"Are you ready? We're starting in a couple of minutes." The host of the event said to Schuester.

"Oh, my God. What are we going to do?" Lindsay said nervous when the man left.

"We should sing another song." Alex suggested.

"The judges have already our set list, we cannot change it." Matheus reminded him.

"Then another person should sing the song." Cameron continued.

"Who? She has the higher range of all of us. No one will do it as good as her." Hannah complained.

"That's not entirely true." Mr. Schue said. "There is one person with the same range and who could do it as good as Jess." Everyone waited for him to continue. "Lindsay." He said. The girl opened her eyes widely while she received all the looks. "You could sing _My heart will go on._ I bet you know the lyrics by heart."

"Well, yes… but I haven't rehearsed." Lindsay said terrified.

"It doesn't matter. We're desperate." The man said looking at the host, who pointed at his watch.

"Do it, Lindsay. Improvise it. It would be better than nothing." Hannah told her.

"But…" The girl was still thinking about it.

"Yes. Just think that is some homework or a pop quiz." Samuel said.

"And without Jess we are still twelve members so we won't be disqualified." Matheus added.

"Okay." She finally said. "I'll try."

The host passed the curtains and came out to the stage.

"Then if Hermione sings the solo, she should sing also the rest of Jess' parts in the other two songs, right?" Emily said.

They nodded. The host was already announcing them, so Hannah and Marissa accompanied Lindsay just behind the curtains encouraging her.

"Sir. What about Jess? Do you think she is okay?" Damian asked the man when the rest moved to the sides of the stage.

"We will do our performance, and just after it we will look for her." The teacher told Damian, seeing how worried the boy was.

"HEEELP!" Jess shouted very far away, hitting the door with her fist. "Please, HEEELP!"

A single spotlight went on and lighted up Lindsay in the centre of the stage. The music started playing and Lindsay breathed deeply in order to calm her nerves.

**Lindsay:** _"Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you."_

"_That is how I know you go on."_

"_Far across the distance and spaces between us"_

"_You have come to show you go on."_

The rest of the glee kids watched her from the two sides of the stage. She was singing wonderfully, as always. All her worries disappeared when she began singing and became more confident. The kids, Mr. Schue and the judges smiled immediately when they heard her soft voice.

**Lindsay:** _"Near, far, wherever you are"_

"_I believe that the heart does go on"_

"_Once more you open the door" _

"_And you're here in my heart"_

"_And my heart will go on and on"_

The rest of New Directions walked to the stage and stood behind the girl in two lines.

**Lindsay:** _"Love can touch us one time and last for a lifetime"_

"_And never let go till we're gone"_

"_Love was when I loved you, one true time I hold to"_

"_In my life we'll always go on"_

"_Near, far, wherever you are"_

"_I believe that the heart does go on"_

**New Directions (in the background):** _"…the heart does go on…"_

The audience was mesmerized with her performance. Her voice was incredibly beautiful. Kevin and the rest of the Warblers were in the audience watching too. He was not amused at all. He took a great risk so that one of the best performers of New Directions would not sing, but another of the girls of the group was doing equally well.

**Lindsay:**_ "Once more you open the door"_

"_And you're here in my heart" _

"_And my heart will go on and on"_

…

_"You're here, there's NOTHING I fear!"_

"_And I know that my heart will go on"_

The audience couldn't wait to the end of the song for clapping so they stood up and applauded.

"Shit…" Kevin whispered.

**Lindsay:**_ "We'll stay FOREVER THIS WAY!"_

"_You are safe in my heart"_

"_And my heart will go on and on"  
_  
The song ended and the crowd applauded again. The glee club members changed positions quickly and Samuel grabbed his guitar and began playing the second song of their set list.

**Samuel:** _"Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you" "By now, you should've somehow realized what you gotta do"_

**McKynleigh:** _"I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now"_

**Alex:** _"Backbeat, the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out" "I'm sure you've heard it all before, but you never really had a doubt"_

**Marissa:** _"I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now"_

**Mark:** _"And all the roads we have to walk are winding"_

**Bryce:** _"And all the lights that lead us there are blinding"_

**Damian:** _"There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how"_

**New Directions:** _"Because maybe you're gonna be the one that saves me" "And after all, you're my wonderwall"_

New Directions were happy about how their performance was going. The audience seemed to like the song and they just had to walk from one side of the stage to another and swing with the music. It was a simple choreography that connected with the song.

**Hannah:** _"Today was gonna be the day, but they'll never throw it back to you" "By now, you should've somehow realized what you're not to do"_

**Cameron:** _"I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now"_

**Matheus:** _"And all the roads that lead you there were winding"_

**Lindsay:** _"And all the lights that light the way are blinding"_

**Emily:** _"There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how"_

**New Directions:** _"I said maybe you're gonna be the one that saves me" "And after all, you're my wonderwall" _

"_I said maybe (I said maybe) you're gonna be the one that saves me" "And after all, you're my wonderwall…"_

The crowd applauded a lot. The kids from New Directions wished they could win Regionals just so they could go to Nationals and have the same experience again. Damian, Mark and Emily were surprised about how fun it was and how great they felt about performing on stage. The song finished so they changed positions again and gathered in the centre of the stage, in three rows full of blue dresses, black shirts and blue ties. They were a little nervous because they would sing the last song without music and it was the first time they would sing a cappella. It had been Damian's idea, to show the judges they could also sing a cappella, like The Warblers.

Lights went on and they started singing.

**New Directions:** _"Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm." "Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm."… _(x2)

**Cameron:** _"I used to rule the world" "Seas would rise when I gave the word"_

**Hannah:** _"Now in the morning I sweep alone"_

**Marissa:** _"Sweep the streets I used to own"_

The audience smiled when they recognized the song but the students from the opposite teams moved in their seats worried because New Directions' song sounded beautiful.

**New Directions:** _"Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm." "Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm."… _(x2)

**Matheus:** _"I used to roll the dice" "Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes"_

**Mark:** _"Listen as the crowd would sing:" ""Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!""_

**Lindsay:** _"One minute I held the key"_

**McKynleigh:** _"Next the walls were closed on me"_

**Bryce:** "_And I discovered that my castles stand" "Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand"_

**New Directions:** _"I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing" "Roman cavalry choirs are singing" "Be my mirror my sword and shield" My missionaries in a foreign field"_

"_For some reason I can't explain" "Once you go there was never" "Never an honest word" "That was when I ruled the world"_

Will and Emma Schuester watched them proudly. Even without Jess they were incredible in all their numbers.

"_Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm." "Oooooh" "Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm." "Oooooh"… _(x2)

**Alex:** _"It was the wicked and wild wind" "Blew down the doors to let me in"_

**Emily:** _"Shattered windows and the sound of drums" "People couldn't believe what I'd become"_

**Samuel:** _"Revolutionaries wait" "For my head on a silver plate"_

**Damian:** _"Just a puppet on a lonely string" "Oh who would ever want to be king?"_

**New Directions:** _"I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing" "Roman cavalry choirs are singing" "Be my mirror my sword and shield" "My missionaries in a foreign field"_

"_For some reason I can't explain" "I know Saint Peter will call my name" "Never an honest word" "But that was when I ruled the world" _

"_Uuuuuuh" "Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm." "Uuuuuuh" "Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm." "Uuuuuuh" "Uhm, uhm, uhm, uhm-uhm uhm, uhm-uhm uhm." "Oh, oh, oh…"_

"_Oooooooh" "Oooooooh" "Oooooooh" "Ooooooh" "Ooooooh" …_

"_I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing" "Roman cavalry choirs are singing" "Be my mirror my sword and shield" "My missionaries in a foreign field"_

"_For some reason I can't explain" "I know Saint Peter will call my name" "Never an honest word" "But that was when I ruled the world…"_

The crowd was standing and clapping very fast. The judges smiled too while the kids left the stage. They certainly had brought a tough competition for the other teams.

An hour and a half later, Jess was still in the old dressing room. Her right hand was red of hitting the door and she was sitting on the floor, against the door. She had been shouting all the time but that side of the building was empty and everybody had been watching the show in the auditorium. What had happened? Did New Directions perform? Did they lose? Would they go back to Lima without her? Would Kevin tell anyone she was trapped there? Jess heard a blurred noise far from there. She stood up again quickly.

"Is anybody there?!"

"Jess?" She heard.

"Damian?" Jess asked. It sounded like him.

"Jess! What are you doing here?" Damian voice asked desperate through the door.

"I'm trapped here. Help me!"

"Wait… Stay away! I'm gonna try to open it!" He ordered.

Jess moved back and waited. She heard Damian hitting the door handle and then he opened the door with a strong kick.

Damian looked at her and breathed in relief. He was so happy she was okay.

"What were you doing here? What happened?" The boy asked.

"Kevin…" She didn't know where to start. "I came here with him after talking with you." She explained. "He left me and… I think he closed the door so I could not sing…"

Damian couldn't believe that was true.

"It seems you were right after all." Jess added. "He wanted us to lose."

"I can't believe it! We must tell someone! But, are you alright?"

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. I was just scared that no one would find me."

"Come." Damian told her grabbing her hand. "We must tell the others. They've been looking for you since we finished our numbers."

They walked down all the stairs and continued to the parking lot. The sky was already very dark and the building was almost empty. All the kids that were around the bus waiting ran towards them. McKynleigh and Lindsay were the first ones to arrive and they hugged Jess.

"Oh, my God! What happened?" Lindsay asked.

Jess told them everything.

"I can't believe he did that just for the competition!" Samuel complained indignant.

"By the way, who won? I still don't know anything!" Jess exclaimed.

Matheus and Emily showed to her the big trophy with a '1' on the top.

"We couldn't find you so we finally sang without you. Lidnsay sang _My heart will go on_ and she was incredible!" Samuel explained.

"Everyone was amazing!" Emily added.

"The Warblers and the other team did well too, but we were the best!" Alex explained.

All the kids kept on telling Jess everything that happened and Emily invited everyone to a party in her house to celebrate. Jess sat next to Lindsay on the bus. After one hour of trip, most kids were taking a nap, tired of all those rehearsals.

"We were very worried about you." Lindsay whispered to Jess. "After the performance everyone looked for you but after all that time, we still couldn't find you. We thought maybe you had left without us, but, luckily, Damian didn't give up and he went to the last corner until he found you."

Jess smiled in silence. That day, Damian had told her he loved her. She never thought that could ever happen.

"Are you going to Emily's party?" Jess asked in order to stop thinking about the boy.

"I don't think so. I should get up early tomorrow to study." Lindsay said.

"But Lindsay, we have won Regionals! Thanks to you! You need to celebrate it!" That didn't convince Lindsay. She had heard the same thing from the rest of the members of the club. "Lindsay… Why do you care so much about your grades? I mean, it is great to have good marks but you already know a lot without studying. Why are you in all those clubs? Why do you try to know it all so perfectly?"

Lindsay's eyes became a little watering before she spoke. She had never talked about that with anybody.

"I… I'm adopted." She explained. "I'm the only child in my family and… I love them so much! I don't want to disappoint them…"

"But you are not disappointing anyone…"

"It's not just that. It's that I need… I feel like I have to be perfect to show them how much I love them." She said while tears went down her cheeks. "I want to get the best marks for them, I want to be in all the clubs so they can be proud of me, I want to go to the best college to show them how much I care about them…"

"Lindsay, you don't have to show them your feelings that way." Jess whispered holding her shoulder. "I bet they know you love them and they love you too. It is great that you care about your family. But you have to care about yourself too. You need to have fun, to make friends and to enjoy your youth. They will know you love them if you get a ten in an exam or if you get a seven. But I think they would be happy if they knew you are enjoying life. Come to the party and have some fun!"

Lindsay nodded wiping her tears away, she was still emotional since her performance.

Once they arrived to Lima and to Emily's house, Mr. Schue told them to be careful. The kids went to the basement of the house and Emily brought some alcohol. After half an hour, all the kids were laughing and talking. McKynleigh was singing _Last name_ in a small improvised stage and the rest of them watched her while drinking from their plastic cups. Damian turned down every drink Emily or Mark brought to him. He could not drink. He would start speaking with his Irish accent if he was too careless about the amount of alcohol in his body.

"Come on, Damian! Have a drink and relax a little!" Emily told him.

Damian ignored her offer. Emily was a little inebriated and the rest were in a similar state. Jess and Alex were doing a crazy dance while McKynleigh was singing.

"YES, DAMIAN! HAVE A DRINK! THIS IS A PARTYYY! WOOOOOOOOO!" Lindsay shouted running through the room.

"Oh my God. We've created a monster…" Cameron said.

Lindsay tried to convince some of the kids to play spin the bottle after she ran a couple of minutes more, but no one wanted to play but her.

"REALLY? No one? WHY ARE YOU SO BORIIIING?" Lindsay said. She had too much alcohol that night.

"Calm down, Linds. I think you had too much." Samuel told her taking her cup away.

"Okay, IF no one wants to PLAY, I'll play by myself!" Lindsay said.

She grabbed Samuel's face and gave him a smack on the mouth. Everyone laughed, but after a minute of struggling tongues Hannah and Jess separated them. Lindsay caught her breath before continuing.

"CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE! WE HAVE WON REGIONALS! WOOOOO!"

_Notes:_

_Another long chapter and a very different one. _

_I wanted to make Lindsay sing at Regionals and talk about her family in the story. Damian also said to Jess that he loves her, after their kiss in last chapter. They also sang three awesome songs in Regionals (my heart will go on, wonderwall and viva la vida). Songs for Nationals are even better._

_Thank you for reading everyone!_

**NEXT CHAPTER: PROM  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 11/17: PROM**

Monday after Regionals Jess went to McKinley very happy. They had won and they will be going to Nationals in a month. She couldn't believe how fast that year had passed. So many things had happened to her: glee club, her friends, Damian… Although Kevin deceived her so she couldn't perform at Regionals, she was very happy for the victory of her team. Jess entered through the main gates with a big smile, ready to go to math class, but the smile disappeared quickly of her face. The hallway walls were all covered with bright posters in which Jess could see her own face and the words 'Prom Queen' beneath it. The girl ran to one of the posters and took it from the wall. What was she doing there? Who had made that? Jess crumpled the poster when she remembered who had taken that photo of her.

"Hannah."

The girl walked on straight and then turned to the right once she passed the corner. Hannah was putting some books in her locker.

"Hannah! Did you make this?" She asked nervous holding the crumpled paper.

"Oh, you saw them."

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" Jess insisted.

"Would you have let me post them?" Hannah asked raising her eyebrow.

"Well, no. But… I mean, I don't want to be Prom Queen."

"I know. That's why I didn't tell you anything." Hannah said closing her locker. "Look, after we won Regionals I thought it would be a good idea if one of us would stand for queen or king. Marissa and Emily are candidates too but they have always been popular."

"And why would you want someone from glee club to be queen? We have never been popular…"

"That's my point. I wanted to see if things are changing at school. With Damian and Mark in glee club now, we have not been slushied in weeks." The red-haired girl explained. "Maybe normal people in school like us. Maybe they would vote for someone who is more like them. All the other girls that put posters are cheerios. I thought about standing for Prom Queen myself, but I thought that more people knew about you and, since you are the leader of the glee club, you would be a good representative."

"What?" Jess was astonished about Hannah's plan. "But I don't even have a date to the prom yet…"

"It's okay. There are separate votes for Queen and King. You don't need a date." Hannah explained to her.

"But…"

"Come on! What do you say?" Hannah insisted. "Do you want to see if glee club wins to popular guys at prom?"

Jess wanted to know if someone like her would beat popular girls like Emily or Marissa. After all, everybody liked the performance of _We're not gonna take it_, which involved slushing the jocks and the cheerios, and people also smiled to them when they were bullied and performed _Bulletproof_. However, it was a crazy idea.

"Ok. I will do it…" Jess said and Hannah smiled in response. "BUT, you will have to ask Cameron to go to prom with you!"

"I don't care. I already thought us three could go together…"

"No, I mean, you have to ask Cameron to go _as your date_. Just you two." Jess made it clear and Hannah blushed. "It took me some time to realize what was going on with you some weeks ago, but finally I realized that you like Cameron." Hannah's face turned incredibly red and she looked down during a long pause.

"But Cameron doesn't like me…" She finally said.

"You don't know that! You must ask him to go with you and he will spend the whole night with you, seeing how beautiful you'll be with your prom dress. I will stand for Prom Queen if you do that!"

"Okay. Alright!" Hannah said after a pause. Her face was still very red. "I will ask him. Now let's go to class before we are late!"

At lunch time, Damian, Mark and Emily ate at their usual table, with the rest of football players and cheerleaders. The rest of the glee club members always ate together in another table.

"I'm so excited for prom!" Emily said. "I already have the dress prepared. It's a beautiful red, strapless dress with…"

Damian and Mark nodded while they ate in silence. They already knew everything about Emily's dress, shoes and even what brand of mascara she would be wearing. All she talked about since last week was prom.

"Have you got any date to prom yet, Damian?" Emily asked him.

Damian shook his head. He would like to ask Jess but he knew she would reject him immediately if he did.

"No. Do you have someone?" Damian told her.

"Okay. Fine! You don't need to insist more… I'll go with you!" Emily said with a bright smile.

"…okay…" Damian knew he had not asked her to go with him but her answer confused him. Mark chuckled. "And you? Do you like someone at school?" He asked Mark showing a little smirk.

"… No." Mark answered blushing. Damian smiled, suspecting his friend was lying. "I'll ask any cheerleader to come with me…"

"Oh, Damian! We are going to be Prom Queen and King this year!" Emily continued. "Did I tell you about my new shoes?"

The two boys sighed.

Tuesday in the afternoon, Mr. Schue had some news for the glee kids.

"I have been talking with Figgins and he suggested that glee club should be the band singing at prom this year. This way we can get some money to go to New York for Nationals!"

"So, we'll all be singing at prom?" Samuel asked.

"Yes. But you can take turns so you can have some fun with your dates too." The man explained.

"I think it is a great idea." Lindsay said.

"So we will have to sing in front of everybody?" Damian asked worried. He had never sung in front of the other players of his team.

"I don't want to sing here at McKinley!" Mark said too.

"It's okay, guys. It is voluntary. You don't have to sing if you don't want to. I believe everyone else will be more than happy to have more time to sing." Mr. Schue told them.

"This is going to be the best prom ever!" Emily said excited.

"Have you girls prepared your dresses?" Alex asked. "I would love to help you choose them."

"That would be awesome, Alex." McKynleigh said. "I would really need some help."

"What songs would you like to sing?" Mr. Schue asked.

"We should sing songs with a good rhythm to dance but also ballads so couples can have some slow, romantic dancing…" Lindsay suggested.

"Maybe we should sing _Last Friday night_, right Lindsay?" Bryce joked and Lindsay blushed.

"Leave her alone, Bryce." Samuel said.

"I was just joking!"

"I think you're right, Linds." Samuel continued. "And… I think… we could go together… you know… to prom."

Everyone was looking at Samuel when the bell rang.

"…Okay." Lindsay said.

"That was the lamest Prom proposal…" Alex whispered.

"Well, I'll see you on Thursday, guys. Have fun and choose some songs to sing on Saturday!" Will Schuester told them and then left the room.

"So, everyone has already a date to prom?" Cameron asked. "Who are you going with, Marissa?"

Hannah looked at Cameron with a sad expression and Jess looked at Hannah and saw her concern.

"A boy from the Hockey team already asked me, so I'll go with him." Marissa explained. She always had been very popular for boys.

Jess pushed Hannah so she would ask Cameron and then stood up to talk to Matheus before he walked out of the room.

"Hey, Matheus!" Jess said. "I was thinking that maybe we could go together to prom, as friends…"

"I'm sorry Jess." Matheus said. "I have already a date."

"Really? That's great! Who's the lucky girl?"

"Ellis Wylie."

"Ellis Wylie? From the A.V. club?" Jess asked surprised.

"Yes. She asked me and I said yes. Sorry."

"It's okay. See you tomorrow." She said waving at him.

Jess sighed. It looked like she would be going alone to prom.

Jess saw Cameron exiting the choir room and she looked at Hannah with an angry expression.

"Why didn't you ask him?" She whispered to her when everybody left.

"I can't…" Hannah only said. She was very worried and nervous.

"Girls! Are you coming?" Cameron asked from the door. "I brought my car."

Jess hit Hannah twice with her elbow.

"Hey, Cameron…" Hannah said very shyly.

"Yes?"

"Would you want to go prom with me?" Hannah asked blushing. It was very difficult for her to do that. They had been friends since years ago.

Cameron looked at her surprised.

"Are you asking me to go as a date or as your friend?" Cameron asked slowly.

Hannah moved her mouth without pronouncing any sounds. Her hands were sweating incredibly fast. Jess hit her once more.

"As friends, of course." Hannah said finally and Jess sighed.

"Oh, great." Cameron said laughing a little. "Yes, we are going together, of course! Come on. Let's go home." He said walking towards the parking lot while the two girls walked behind him.

Jess looked angry at Hannah and she covered her face with her hands. She was so embarrassed. Jess couldn't understand what it meant to her to ask her best friend on a date, putting in risk their entire friendship.

Jess was in her room, putting her shoes on. They were a little bit high and made her trip sometimes but they matched perfectly with her green dress. There she was, with no date to the prom, but she didn't mind. She wanted to go there and have a good time with her friends and to sing a couple of songs too.

"Jess! There's a boy here asking for you!" Jess' mother shouted from downstairs.

A boy? Who could it be? Jess took her purse, got out of her room and ran down the stairs. In the hallway, her mother was waiting for her next to a boy in an amazing grey suit with a purple tie.

"Alex!" Jess exclaimed with a big smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't want you to go alone to prom. You are amazing, you don't deserve that."

"That's so sweet!" Jess said hugging him. "Thank you so much, Alex. You look fabulous!"

"Look at you! You are gorgeous! Come on! We don't want to miss the other's performances." The boy reminded to her.

Jess said goodbye to her parents and they went to McKinley.

"No one asked you for prom either? Are there not more gay guys at school?" Jess asked to her friend.

"Oh, there are. There aren't more _openly_ gay guys at school that I would like to ask." He explained.

"I wish there would be another handsome gay boy in the glee club so you two could go together to prom and show your courage to everyone." Jess thought out loud.

Alex chuckled but he couldn't tell her about Mark's secret. He didn't want to out him. Of course, the boy was confused now, but Alex had always had the best "gaydar" and he knew Mark liked Damian Anderson.

Damian and Emily arrived to the High School decorated gym. The place looked totally different with all the lights of different colors and all the decoration the glee club had put in the walls and in the ceiling. There were tables with food and drinks next to the walls of the gym and there were also tables for people to sit and relax and a dance floor in front of a small stage. Emily talked for a while with Ms. Sylvester and Damian chatted a bit with other football players.

Matheus was the first glee member to climb up to the stage. He sang _DJ got us falling in love_ while the rest of the students danced to the song on the dance floor.

**Matheus:** … _"Cause baby tonight, the DJ got us fallin' in love again"_

"_Yeah, baby tonight, the DJ got us fallin' in love again"_

"_So dance, dance, like it's the last, last night of your life, life" _

"_Gonna get you right"_ …

Damian was dancing with Emily when something caught his attention. Jess was in the middle of the dance floor. She looked radiant and more beautiful than ever. Jess showed a huge smile and waved at him with a lot of energy. Then the girl ran towards him, moving away from the dancing people. Damian got distracted and smiled because he had never thought she could be so excited to talk with him. However, his sudden happiness turned into frustration when Jess passed next to him and ran to met Cameron and Hannah, who where dancing behind him and Emily.

"How are you guys? Alex and I have just arrived. We thought we were going to miss Matheus' number!" Jess explained to her friends.

"We are great!" Cameron exclaimed while Alex joined them. Jess looked at Hannah worried about how she would be, but the girl was smiling and she seemed to be having a great time with Cameron. "You look beautiful, Jess."

"Thank you. You look great too." Jess said. "And Hannah? Have you seen how beautiful is she today?"

Hannah threw a warning look to Jess.

"Yes. Of course I have." Cameron answered. "I was speechless when I first saw her!"

Hannah blushed and the four of them kept on dancing to Matheus' song.

"Are you okay, Damian? You look a little sad." Emily asked, getting closer to him.

"Yes. Yes. I'm fine." He lied.

Damian looked at Jess direction then and caught her looking at him. He waved at her with a little smirk and she waved him back.

The night went on and soon Hannah and Bryce went to the stage to perform a mash-up of _I've had the time of my life_ and _I got a feeling_.

**Hannah: **_"Now I've had the time of my life" "No I never felt like this before"_

"_Yes I swear it's the truth" "and I owe it all to you"_

"_Cause I've had the time of my life" "and I owe it all to youuuu…"_

**Bryce:** "_Tonight's the night!" "Let's live it up" "I got my money" "Let's spend it up!"_

"_Go out and smash it" "Like Oh My God!" "Jump off that sofa" "Let's get get OFF!"_

"_Fill up my cup"_

**Hannah:** "_Drink"_

**Bryce:** _"Mozolotov_"

**Hannah:** _"Lahyme"_

**Bryce:** "_Look at her dancing"_

**Hannah:** "_Move it, move it"_

**Bryce:** "_Just take it off_"

"_Let's paint the town" "We'll shut it down" "Let's burn the roof" "and then we'll do it again_"

**Hannah:** "_I've had the time of my life" "No I never felt this way before_"

"_Yes I swear it's the truth" _

**Bryce:** _"That tonight's gonna be a good night" "That tonight's gonna be a good night" "That tonight's gonna be a good, good time"_

…

After Hannah and Bryce's song, Cameron, Samuel and Marissa went to the stage and sang _Moves like Jagger_.

"What's up, Mark?" Damian told his friend next to the punch table.

"Hey! I'm great, dude. Where is Emily?"

"Oh. Coach Sylvester called her again. Blue code or something like that. She is always asking for her help so we couldn't even dance one song entirely." Damian explained.

"Man, that sucks. I mean, you know how excited she was about prom. I guess she didn't know it was going to be like that."

"Yeah, I guess. And where is your date?"

"Oh. She's in the bathroom. I asked one of the cheerleaders as I told you… She's nice but she is a little boring, you know?" Mark said.

"And why didn't you ask that person you like?"

"What do you mean?"

"You told me you didn't like anybody but I know you were lying." Damian explained, making his friend blush a little. "Who is she? Do I know her?"

"No, no. Forget it. I don't like anybody." Mark said trying to finish that conversation. "Look, she's back." He said pointing at the cheerleader that was coming towards them. "See you later, dude. We'll see who gets chosen Prom King."

Samuel climbed to the stage and took the mic between his hands.

"Next song is dedicated to my prom date. Hope you like it!" He said.

Lindsay smiled from the dance floor. She had gathered with Jess, Alex, Cameron and Hannah. The music started playing and Samuel began singing.

**Samuel: **_"GO!"_

The song was _Are you gonna be my girl_ by Jet. People began to dance crazily with the music and Cameron and Hannah went to dance with the rest of the crowd too.

**Samuel:** _"So one, two, three, take my hand and come with me" _

"_Because you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine." _

"_I say you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine."_

"_Oh, four, five, six c'mon and get your kicks"_

"_Now you don't need that money when you look like that, do you honey?"_

"_Big black boots"_

"_Long brown hair"_

"_She's so sweet with her get back stare."_

"_Well I could see you home with me" _

"_But you were with another man, yeah!"_

"_I know we ain't got much to say"_

"_Before I let you get away, yeah!"_

"_I said, are you gonna be my girl?"_

…

"Hey, guys. How are you doing?" Matheus asked the group.

"Hey, Matheus! What's up!" Jess and Alex said. Lindsay was still distracted and dancing to the song.

"I came here to say hi. Look, this is Ellis Wylie. Ellis, these are my friends." Matheus said introducing the girl standing next to him.

"Hey Ellis, did you see Matheus singing? He was good, right?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. I saw all of you, you are all doing great." The girl said.

"You are in the A.V. club, right?" Jess asked and Ellis nodded. "I saw some videos of your blog. It looks like you have a lot of talent. Have you ever considered joining the glee club?"

"Yeah. Matheus has also told me that. I would do it, if it weren't because I think show choir competition is stupid. So, not interested, thank you."

"… Okay." Jess said trying to show a smile. "Oh, now it's my turn to sing. I'll be right back!"

Jess went to the stage when Samuel finished. The music started playing and she began singing _Jar of Hearts_. All the couples danced close in the centre of the gym while Jess' voice filled every corner of the place.

Damian danced with Emily to Jess' song when the girl came back from Sue's office. However, he couldn't focus on his dance partner. All he could think about was Jess. Her voice was beautiful and she looked stunning. He needed to have one dance with her. He knew he would probably scare her or make her angry but he had to try. He didn't want to get through prom without having danced with the person he loved. Jess finished her song and her eyes met Damian's.

"Wow. That was beautiful!" Emily said and Damian looked at her surprised. Emily sighed before continuing. "People always assume I don't like her, but I think she's great and she is very talented. Since I joined the glee club I began to like everyone there…" Damian smiled; he also liked everyone in the club. "And I like the glee club too, even if I can't admit it out loud." She whispered too.

Both of them were very similar. They both liked the glee club but they couldn't admit it because it would damage their reputation at the school.

"Emily. Come with me!" Sue Sylvester told the girl. "Some students have corrupted the ice sculpture and I need to get rid of it before more people see it!"

Emily sighed and followed her coach. Damian seized that opportunity to talk to Jess, who was serving herself some food from one of the tables next to the stage.

**Lindsay:** "_I heard that you're settled down_"

"_That you found a girl and you're married now_"

"_I heard that your dreams came true_"

"_Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you_"

"Would you like to have this dance with me?" Damian asked Jess.

"I don't even want to talk to you. Why would I want to dance with you?" As always, Jess wasn't the most charming person to talk to.

"You… you guys have done a really good job decorating the party." Damian simply said. He didn't want to start a fight so he decided to ignore Jess' hateful comments.

**Lindsay:** _"Old friend, why are you so shy?" _

"_Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light"_

"Where is Emily?" Jess asked after a pause, ignoring Damian's compliment.

"She went to help Coach Sue." Damian explained. He noticed Jess seemed uncomfortable in that situation. When they were not fighting it was difficult to think of a topic to talk about. "Did you come here alone?"

"Yes, well, with Alex… But I don't need a date. I'm happy I came alone, I'm having the best time…"

Actually, Jess had thought that Damian would have asked her for prom. After all, some days before, he told her that he loved her. Probably, he didn't do it because he knew she would reject him.

**Lindsay:** _"I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited"_

"_But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it"_

"_I had hoped you'd see my face"_

"_And that you'd be reminded that for me it isn't over"_

"I've seen you decided to stand for Prom Queen. I thought you didn't care about popularity."

"I don't give a damn about popularity. It was Hannah's idea…" Jess explained offended. "I guess Emily and you will be winning for Prom Queen and King…"

Why that cold tone appeared in her voice? She didn't care about what Emily and Damian did, right? It sounded as if she was jealous.

**Lindsay:** _"Never mind, I'll find someone like you" _

"_I wish nothing but the best for you, too"_

"I'm not so sure. Since we are in glee club our reputation is getting lower…" The boy explained.

"'Your reputation'. It's funny the way you say it, like if it was so important…"

"You don't think it is important?" Damian asked.

**Lindsay:** _"Don't forget me, I beg" "I remember you said"_

_"Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead" _

"Not at all. I don't care about what other people think about me, just about what I think about me and about my friends liking me for who I am. Why do you pretend popularity is so important? Why does everybody? Is that going to matter when we are out of High School? Do you even like being somebody that other people want you to be?" Jess asked irritated.

"Alright, but when you have been through some tough times, things get easier if you are the most popular guy in school…" Damian said trying to justify all he had done during that year.

**Lindsay:** _"Sometimes it lasts in love" "But sometimes it hurts instead"_

"Being through a tough time? When have you been through anything?" The girl asked confused. Damian realized he had talked too much. "Have you ever had a bad time? Aren't you the football player surrounded by cheerleaders? Haven't you always been the popular guy?"

"… Yes. YES. Yes, of course. You're right, forget it." He said looking down and nervous.

"Damian… Is there anything that I don't know?" Jess asked suspicious. She was almost certain he was lying.

"No, no, not at all. There's no problem, I… I actually gotta go. Good luck!"

She watched him leave still confused. She knew Damian was hiding something and she was incredibly curious about what it could be.

**Lindsay:** …_"Never mind, I'll find someone like you"_

"_I wish nothing but the best for you, too"_

"_Don't forget me, I beg"_

"_I remember you said"_

"_Sometimes it lasts in love"_

"_But sometimes it hurts instead"_

"_Sometimes it lasts in love"_

"_But sometimes it hurts instead"_

The time for choosing Prom Queen and King arrived soon. Mr. Figgins went to the stage and every candidate stood in a row behind him. Jess didn't understand why was she nervous. She looked at her friends from the glee club. All of them made gestures of encouragement and cheering but Jess wasn't any calmer. It was stupid how all her friends made her stand for Prom Queen to see if people liked glee club. The voting was secret so it would really reflect who were the most liked people in High School. As McKynleigh always said, everybody clapped when they slushied the cheerios and the jocks in the cafeteria, so she always said Jess would be Prom Queen. Jess looked at her left. Marissa and Emily were also on the stage, as well as Damian and Mark in the other side of the stage. They had always been the most popular people there, would a couple of slushies change all that?

"And before knowing who are going to be Prom Queen and King, let me introduce you to Prom Princess and Prince." Principal Figgins said and then read the names of those who came in second place. "Josh Watson and Marissa Von Bleicken!" He read.

Marissa and the boy who was her date that night approached the front part of the stage and they received some little crowns. Everybody applauded.

"And now the King of junior prom of McKinley High this year is:" Mr Figgins said opening a small envelope and reading its content. "Damian Anderson!"

Mark pushed Damian so he would walk towards the Principal. He was very surprised. Mr. Figgins put a crown on his head and gave him a small scepter.

"I did not expect that." Damian whispered to Mark before he walked out of the stage. "I thought that being on glee would be a great obstacle to win…"

"Well, Marissa is princess and she is in the glee club." Mark whispered. "Maybe it's not an obstacle but an advantage." Damian looked at him doubtful. "And don't be so surprised anyways; all the girls in the school have a crush on you… It's not so weird you are Prom King." He said smirking just before leaving the stage.

There were two thrones on the stage and Damian sat on one of them. Emily smiled at him.

"And now let's announce who of these girls is our Prom Queen." Mr. Figgins said opening another small envelope.

Jess looked at her friends again. It was impossible that she would win with Emily there. Besides, Damian was Prom King and, as everybody knew, she had thrown liters and liters of slushy on him. If people liked him, it was impossible that people would like her.

"Our Prom Queen of junior prom this year at McKinley High is: Jess Hudson!"

All the glee kids shouted in excitement and some people more clapped. Jess opened her eyes all she could, in shock. People had voted for her? People were applauding her? Damian was trying to hide a smile but he couldn't do it. He was so happy for Jess. Mr. Figgins brought a surprised Jess to the microphone, in case she would like to say something. He put a golden crown on her head and he gave her another scepter. Damian watched excited from his throne. If they followed tradition they both will be dancing together.

"Wow. I did not expect this at all." Jess said on the mic. "Actually, I have always thought this is a popularity contest and I have never considered myself very popular. But if, according to you, I am popular, I guess that's something good because that means we no longer admire skinny, mean girls with no brain. I guess you see me like the girl that is more like you, so I'm flattered. I just wanted to say, if this gives me any kind of authority…" Jess said shaking her scepter. "or just now that you are listening to me… I just wanted to say that if you ever need help I'll be there. If you feel alone or if you are bullied, I'll be more than glad to give you a hand." Damian was every time more mesmerized by her words. Could she be any better? Could he love her more? "But actually, I don't want this crown… If anyone else wants to take it…? –Jess held the crown in the air in front of the other candidate girls. Damian smile disappeared. He still wanted to dance with her. All the girls looked at the crown but no one dared to move. Finally, Emily moved some steps forward and took it. Jess walked down from the stage and joined the rest of glee members, who were still surprised. Alex and Marissa went to the stage to sing the last song.

**Alex and Marissa:** _"Aaaaaaaaaaaah" "Aaaaaaah"_

Damian looked at Jess and then at Emily. He apologized to Emily and ran down the stage until he reached Jess.

"What are you doing, Damian?" Jess asked frowning to him. "Go dance with Emily."

"I want to dance with the real queen." Damian said, stretching out his hand.

**Alex and Marissa:** _"You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life_"

Jess looked at his hand reluctant. All her friends around were gesturing for her to dance with Damian.

"I really don't want to…"

"Please. Just one dance." He begged.

**Alex and Marissa:** _"See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen_"

Jess felt Hannah and McKynleigh pushing her, but they didn't know anything about Damian's feelings. Damian's blue eyes penetrated in hers. It was just a dance, after all. Jess rolled her eyes and took his hand. Damian took her to the centre of the dance floor, but Jess let go of his hand and began dancing.

"Wh…? Is this how you are going to dance?" Damian asked disappointed but happy at the same time.

"Well, you would not be expecting to hold me and dance closer, would you?" Jess said dancing to the song.

Damian laughed and shrugged. He also began to dance and everybody else joined them.

**Alex and Marissa:** _"Friday night and the lights are low" "Looking out for a place to go" "Where they play the right music, getting in the swing" "you come in to look for a king"_

"_Anybody could be that guy" "Night is young and the music's high" "With a bit of rock music, everything is fine" "You're in the mood for a dance"_

Everyone was having fun on the dance floor. Bryce was dancing with McKynleigh, Cameron with Hannah, Samuel with Lindsay and Matheus with Ellis. Mark's date got mad because she didn't win so he took Emily to the dance floor.

"Jess, you are probably going to kick me when I tell you!" Damian shouted to be heard through the music. "But I had to tell you that you are especially beautiful today! You always are, but today you are more!"

Jess blushed and she tried to avoid Damian's blue eyes. Her body was acting strange again, just like when Damian sang to her in the auditorium. While the song continued hundreds of balloons fell from the ceiling.

**Alex and Marissa:** _"And when you get the chance…"_

Jess lost her balance once more because of her high heels and she tripped forward.

"Are you okay?" Damian asked her.

"These stupid shoes always make me…"

Jess saw Damian's face very close to hers. She just realized she had grabbed to Damian's shoulders to not fall and he was holding her waist.

"Yes. I'm fine…" She said in a very low voice.

They looked at each other in the eye in silence. They had stopped dancing. They couldn't form any word.

**Alex and Marissa:** _"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen"_

"_Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine"_

Why did she felt like that? Why did she felt like she liked Damian? Jess looked more and more into those eyes trying to understand why was she falling in love with him. Damian leaned forward, but he didn't kiss her. He put his head over her shoulder while Jess' rested on his shoulder. They were dancing slowly, holding each other. None of them said anything else. Damian couldn't ask for nothing more, that was what he always wanted.

**Alex and Marissa: **_"You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life"_

"_See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen"_

"_You're a teaser, you turn 'em on"_

"_Leave them burning and then you're gone"_

"_Looking out for another, anyone will do"_

"_You're in the mood for a dance"_

"_And when you get the chance"_

"_You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen"_

"_Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine"_

"_You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life"_

"_See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen"_

…

The song ended and they both looked at each other's eyes again.

"Bye, Damian." Jess whispered and then left quickly, still with a million of questions in her head.

_Notes:_

_There it is! One more chapter finished. At the beginning I thought it was too cheesy and predictable, but I liked to read it so I guess I'm also cheesy and predictable. XDD_

_I didn't review it deeply so maybe there are mistakes that I will correct in the next days._

_Oh, I wanted to remind you that I imagine my characters like fictional characters, even if they are based on real people. They are different from the real glee project contestants. That's why I would ship people in my fanfic that I have never shipped in real life. _

_Thank you so much for reading it. I'm not capable to read a fanfic now without thinking "Damn, they really know English and they can explain situations beautifully and with lots of synonyms…" So I know that my English and my writing is not the best, that's why it means so much for me that anyone reads my fanfic._

_Now there are only six chapters left! And a lot of things happen._

**NEXT CHAPTER: STRONGER**


	12. Chapter 12

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 12/17: STRONGER**

Damian walked through McKinley gates with a giant smile on his face. It was Wednesday after the school prom and everything was going perfectly for him that week. When he went back to class on Monday he was the focus of attention. He noticed everyone's looks since he was chosen Prom King. He hadn't thought being Prom King would make any difference, but people were treating him the same way than when he won the championship game. He could notice above all, the looks from the youngest girls in the hallways. Within the same day, he got asked for a date twice. Apparently, all the girls at the school thought he was dating Emily after he broke up with Marissa and, most likely, Emily didn't mind to deny that rumor. When Damian didn't dance with Emily at the end of prom, all those girls thought they were not dating so now some of them were asking him out.

"I'm sorry, I like someone else." He said to both girls.

It was such a weird feeling for him, to be liked. No girl would have noticed him last year. He was not used to it at all, but it made him feel a bit better. However, there was just one girl he was interested in and the last thing she had done was to abandon him in the gym after a perfect dance together.

Despite all that, Damian's hopes weren't getting any smaller. On Tuesday, Damian caught Jess looking at him several times. In the hallways, in the cafeteria, at science class and in the choir room. All those looks made Damian think that maybe she could like him too. They had some romantic moments when they danced at prom and, maybe, he caught her looking at him because she liked him. That was the thought that made Damian happier the most.

Besides all that, he felt more accepted in the glee club too. On Tuesday, they had a great time and even Mark admitted to him that he was loving being in the club. All of the glee members were becoming his friends. Every class, he learned more about them and he liked them more. Cameron was loyal, Hannah was hilarious, McKynleigh was generous, Lindsay was sweet, Samuel was passionate… All of them were great and they forgave Mark and Damian very quickly, considering all they had done to most of them. That was why, after glee club, Damian asked Emily and Mark for a favor.

Damian met Emily and Mark in the cafeteria as they normally did, but they did not sit in their usual table. The three of them walked to the glee club table.

"Can we have lunch with you?" Damian asked the group.

All of them were surprised at first, but they smiled and cheered immediately. They were very happy to see the three newest members of glee club being a part of the group outside the choir room, without caring about what others could say or think. Damian, Emily and Mark were surprised and very pleased about the warm welcome, so they sat and ate together. When Damian was talking with Bryce about basketball, he saw Jess watching him again, but she looked away quickly. He tried to hide a smile, because if that look meant what he thought it meant, it made him incredibly happy.

On Thursday, Marissa was touching up her makeup at her locker when Jess walked towards her.

"Hey, Marissa. I was wondering if I could ask you something." Jess said doubtful.

"Sure, but can't it wait to glee club? Cause we will be meeting there in half an hour." Marissa asked.

"No. We can't talk in glee club. It's private, well, not exactly…" Jess tried to explain.

"Okay. Shoot. What's that important question that cannot wait?" Marissa asked directly, seeing that Jess would continue speaking in a roundabout way.

"Okay. Here's the thing. I wanted to know if Damian had any serious problem in the past. I guess you know him better, since you two were together…" Jess explained.

"A serious problem? Like what?" Marissa asked not understanding.

"It's just that at prom he mentioned that he had been through some tough times, and since the moment I knew him I can't think of a single one!"

"I know him since the beginning of this school year and I don't know about what he could be talking about. If he had one big problem, he didn't tell me." Marissa argued.

"What about his family? Has it been in a bad situation?" Jess continued.

"I don't know anything about his family." Marissa explained. "He has always been very reserved about that. In all the time we were together I didn't meet any of his parents and we always hanged out at my house."

That made Jess to think about something. When they were working on their science project Damian always insisted in doing it in Jess' house or at school and he also got very pissed when Jess forgot to call him on the phone before ringing the bell of his house. All that was very suspicious, but Jess had still many other doubts.

"And what about last year, what High School did he attend?" Jess asked once more.

"What do you mean? He has always lived here and he has always come to McKinley." Marissa answered confused.

"But he doesn't appear… Nothing. Forget it." Jess said, shaking her head.

"Are you okay? Why all these questions about Damian?" Marissa inquired.

"Nothing. Just curiosity. Never mind." Jess said then walking away.

She couldn't tell Marissa, of course. She would think she was crazy. Jess had been looking for information everywhere so she could understand what Damian meant at prom and what was he hiding. She had found the yearbooks from the previous year in the school library and she had found that Damian didn't appear in them. She immediately thought Damian had been in another school last year, but, according to Marissa, he was at McKinley. Then if Damian was at McKinley, why didn't his pictures appear in the yearbook? On the other hand, there was a great secrecy about his family and Jess knew there was something he was hiding. If he didn't want to tell her, she would find out about it on her own.

When they went to glee club Mr. Schue made a great effort to improve their dancing. They will be going to Nationals after all and they had to make a great impression. After two hours of hard work, everyone went home very tired.

"Wow, man. I'm worn out!" Mark said when Damian and him were crossing the hallway.

"Yeah, me too. At least I am getting better at dancing and that is a huge progress!" Damian mentioned.

"And I am actually good at singing, can you believe that? I didn't know I could reach those notes!" Mark added.

Both boys closed their eyes quickly when they felt the ice against their skins.

"Coming from glee club, guys?" A voice said. They recognized it. He was one of the members of the football team. "Have they turned you gay already?"

Damian was trying to remember how to breathe again. The ice was dripping through his arms and stomach and his skin was becoming insensitive.

"We've seen you joined losertown!" Another boy said. "We thought Coach Beiste made you join glee club mandatorily, so we were okay with it. But now you go and hang out with them?"

"Why would you hang out with those losers after being the kings of the school?"

"This is just a warning. If you want to be homo and sing show tunes from now on, then take off those football jackets or we will kick you out of the football team." One of the big boys said.

Mark opened his eyes enough to see him hitting his left palm with his right fist. The group of jocks left throwing menacing looks at the slushied boys. Damian ran to one of the school bathrooms and Mark followed him. Fortunately or not, he was used to be slushied when he was a sophomore so he knew perfectly where he had to go and what he had to do.

"Here." Damian told his friend, giving him a clean towel. "Be careful and clean your eyes soon or they will burn for minutes."

Mark took the towel and cleaned himself in silence. Damian put his head under the tap and cleaned the ice of his hair.

"I never thought it felt this bad." Mark mentioned. "Being slushied." He explained. "It's very embarrassing."

Damian sighed. He used to see Mark as a friend since some months ago, but it was hard for him to remember about all the slushies he had thrown to other students. Damian cleaned his t-shirt with warm water and they went out of the building and walked towards home.

"I guess we will have to leave glee club." Mark said looking down.

"What?" Damian asked surpsised.

"Well, we have to be there for the rest of the year because of Coach Beiste, but we will have to stop hanging out with them." Mark continued. Damian looked at him incredulous. "You've heard them."

"Yeah! And I am not leaving because of that!" Damian argued irritated.

"Well, I don't want to be called…"

"What? Gleek? Loser? Gay?" The other boy blushed and looked down. "What does it matter? You told me the other day you liked being in glee club!"

"Well, I like being a part of the football team too!"

"Wow, man, I can't believe you got afraid by a bunch of idiots."

"I'm not afraid!" Mark said angry.

"Then go ahead and do whatever they tell you." Damian said also pissed.

"Don't talk to me like I'm crazy! You know they are right! We used to be on top and we cannot be gleeks now and lose everything."

"I've been all year doing things to not lose everything!" Damian shouted mad. "And since I joined glee club I started to finally feel better about myself!" Damian breathed deeply. "They are my friends now! I'm not going to dump them before Nationals."

"Glee club is damaging our reputation!"

Damian frowned at him. He had to sound like that to Jess every time he mentioned his reputation and he could understand why she always got so disappointed with him.

"And who cares? I don't care if they want to slushy me or call me gay!"

"You are the first one that cares about his reputation!" Mark accused him. "You dated Marissa even when you didn't like her! Just because of your reputation."

Damian didn't like to hear the truth and pushed him.

"That's why you joined the football team! To be popular! That's why you did everything else! So don't ask me who cares!" Mark continued and Damian breathed angry. "You know what? Go ahead and stay with the glee club and I'll stay in the football team. Everything has been worse since I had to join that club. I was fine without all these things happening to me! Everything was better before I knew you!"

Mark tripped to one side after Damian punched him. The boy was really mad. On one hand, Damian was afraid that Jess would think about him the way Mark did. That she would think that he only cared about his reputation and popularity. On the other hand, he was hurt about Mark's comment about not wanting to have ever met him. He didn't like Mark very much at the beginning of the year, but they had become best friends, especially since they joined New Directions. Mark covered his cheek with his hand and looked at him with mad eyes. Damian swallowed. He had never been in a fight like that or, at least, he had never been the one starting it. Mark approached him furious and Damian closed his eyes waiting for the punch. Damian waited for it but it didn't arrive. He was going to open his eyes when he felt something touching his lips. Damian finally opened his eyes surprised when he felt Mark's hands grabbing his arms strongly. He couldn't see much with Mark's head in front of his nose. Damian didn't move at all. He couldn't believe that was actually happening. Mark's wet lips removed slowly from his and Damian caught his breath while staring at his friend. Mark's eyes met Damian's. He seemed to be realizing what he had done. Damian didn't know what to say so he gave him a questioning look. Mark just looked down and walked away. The Irish boy kept breathing nervously while Mark walked further and further.

"Mark!" Damian called him. The boy ignored him. "Mark!"

The tall boy laughed nervously.

"It was just a joke… It was…" he said far away, but he continued walking and left.

Damian remained there thinking about Mark's kiss. After accepting the fact that Mark could have feelings for him, Damian got very worried. He knew Mark very well and he could guess he was confused and angry about his feelings. Besides, he would be very embarrassed about the kiss. Damian had to do something before Mark did something stupid. He was strong, but if he didn't do anything, maybe he would see Mark hitting an innocent boy next day at school or doing something worse. After being minutes standing on the dark street, Damian walked decidedly to Mark's house.

Damian knocked the door ten minutes later, when he arrived. Mark opened it, but when he saw him, he closed it quickly, or almost, because Damian put his arm between the door and the door frame.

"Mark! Let me in!" Damian asked him.

"Who is it?" Mark's father shouted from the living room.

Mark looked in its direction scared and Damian seized the chance and pushed the door until he got inside. The boys looked at each other in the eye.

"It's Damian!" Mark told his father.

Mark's father appeared through the living room door. He was a fat man with gray hair and he held a drink with ice in his hand.

"Hey, boy! How are you?" He asked Damian.

"Fine, thanks." He said.

"I saw you playing in the football championship. You were really good." The old man said and the boy smiled. "And I heard you were chosen Prom King too…"

"Yeah. I'm having a good year." Damian answered. "Mark, can we talk?" He asked giving a meaningful look at his friend.

Mark looked at his father and then at Damian.

"Alright." He felt forced to say in front of his father. He didn't want to answer his questions if he kicked Damian out of their house. "Let's go upstairs." He said trying to gain some privacy.

Mark and Damian went upstairs and entered Mark's room. He closed the door and they stared at each other's eyes again.

"Look, that was just a joke I came up with…"

"Mark, don't lie to me. Please." Damian said serious and Mark looked down. "Look, I don't have… those feelings for you, but I don't have any problem with what happened. I mean, if that's who you are, then it's fine with me." Damian told him.

Mark looked at him in silence. He was surprised about his friend's reaction. Damian walked and sat on the bed.

"I don't know since when you have felt this way," Damian continued. "but if you are gay…"

"I don't know if I'm gay." Mark said interrupting him. He sat on the bed too and covered his face with both hands. "I'm so confused."

"I'm your friend." Damian said holding Mark's shoulder. "Whatever happens, I'm here for you."

They both stood like that for a long moment.

"Thanks." Mark whispered. "I've always known you were different. If I had kissed any other of the team, they would have hit me to death…"

"Well, I'm not hitting you, or, not again…" Damian said and they both laughed. Mark's cheek was still bruised. "I'm sorry." He said and Mark shrugged. "I… I like someone else." He said, just like he told those girls at school a couple of days before.

"It's okay. I know you like Jess…"

"How do you know?" He asked surprised.

"Well, everybody suspects that there's something between you two since you did your duet for the teamwork assignment. We talk about it all the time when none of you are there." Mark told him and Damian stared at him surprised. Everybody knew it? "Don't tell the rest, okay?" Mark asked, bringing Damian down to Earth again.

"No, of course not." Damian stated serious.

Mark sighed and lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Damian felt their friendship had taken a great step forward. They had never spoken about such deep feelings and thoughts before. Maybe, Mark would feel a little more vulnerable since he told him such a personal information.

"You know what? Since you told me one of your secrets I will tell you one of mine." Damian proposed.

"Alright." Mark said, genuinely smiling.

"I'm Irish." Damian said.

Mark puffed.

"What a secret! Half of my mother's family comes from Canada…"

"No, I mean. I was born and raised in Ireland." Damian explained and Mark looked at him with a confused expression. "I came to America just two years ago."

"Whatever you say, Damian. I know perfectly…"

"_Well, if you don't want to believe me that is your problem…"_

"Uoh. Uoh. What was that?"

"_You mean my Irish accent. I've grown up in Ireland so, of course, I have the accent."_

"Ha. Ha." Mark said looking at him amused. "Do it again."

Damian sighed. He told Mark about his story. About his last year at school and all the bullying he received. He told him about his change in look and about him lying all year to be one of the popular guys at school. Mark listened serious to his story.

"I know it seems stupid to pretend to be another person just to be safer and happier during a couple of years, but…"

"I understand, Damian." Mark interrupted him, giving him a meaningful look. "I know exactly how that feels." He said smiling at him.

Damian smiled at him too. He felt so relieved! It was the first time he talked to someone about his secret and, besides, his friend understood the reasons he had to do it. It was incredible all the time he had being suffering all the weight of that giant secret on his own. It felt great to come clean to somebody.

"Well, I must go now. It's late." Damian said. "I hope you stay in glee. They would really support you, you know? We'll all defend you if necessary."

"Yeah. I know." Mark said smiling.

"See you tomorrow in class." Damian said and his friend nodded. Damian stood still thinking for a moment what he should do. Finally he approached Mark and hugged him tight. Then he walked to the door.

"I'll be there for whatever you need." He insisted. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"YES. Go away already!" Mark told him half laughing.

Damian smiled and left the room and the house. He walked to his own home thinking how great things went that evening. Of course, the whole kiss thing was shocking but it made Mark and Damian closer friends. Since that day on they were best friends. Since that day on they knew each other's secrets. Since that day on their friendship became stronger.

_Notes:_

_Okay. So basically, all this story line comes from the time when I read Irishtofsky fanfics. XDD_

_Mark's character is inspired in Dave Karofsky from Glee (just as Kevin's character is inspired in Sebastian). Since Dave had left glee I wanted to tell a similar story about coming out in this fanfic._

_Sorry about posting so late but I have an enormous amount of homework._

**NEXT CHAPTER: THE TRUTH**


	13. Chapter 13

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 13/17: THE TRUTH**

"Hey, girls!" Cameron said to Jess and Hannah, Friday after class. "Do you guys want to come over later to watch a movie? I'll make popcorn."

"That sounds great!" Hannah said.

"And you, Jess?" Cameron asked the other girl. She got distracted when Damian crossed the hallway. "Are you coming?"

"What? No, no. Sorry. I can't. I've got… other plans. I actually gotta go now. See you guys on Monday!" Jess said, still distracted.

She waved at them and walked away, leaving Cameron and Hannah alone in the school hallway.

"So I guess it'll be just the two of us then…" Cameron told Hannah.

"Yeah… Well, you know, actually, I've just remembered that I told my mom I would go shopping with her later today." Hannah lied. "We'll see the movie any other day." She suggested.

The girl smiled but Cameron frowned. He knew her well enough to know she was lying to him. But why? Why wouldn't she want to hang out with him?

Both of them went home. Hannah thought she had done the right thing. She didn't want to spend the rest of the day alone with Cameron. If Jess was there, it will be fine because Hannah would be able to talk to her and forget about her feelings for Cameron, but if Cameron and she were alone, she would be very uncomfortable.

Jess left Hannah and Cameron and followed Damian. She stood far enough, so he couldn't see her. After being thinking a lot about what Damian could be hiding, Jess decided it was the time to spy on him. Damian took his school bag and got out of the High School, while Jess followed him hiding in all the corners of the street. He seemed to be going home. His house was a little far, but Jess was glad that Damian didn't have a car. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to follow him. Of course, she knew where his house was. She had been there before, but she wanted to make sure when he would be inside the house and when he will be outside. There was something he didn't want others to know about the place or about his family and Jess was determined to discover what it was, even if that implied such an absurd idea as spying on him.

After minutes of walking behind him they finally arrived. The girl stuck her head out of the bushes from the neighbor' garden. She took a look at him and saw him picking some keys from his school bag. With the keys he unlocked the door and got inside the house. First important fact: He was home alone.

Jess seated on the floor and waited. She wasn't sure what she was doing there, what she was expecting to find, but she was willing to stay there until night if necessary. She had to find out the truth about Damian and that was the first place to start with.

At 7 in the evening, someone knocked Hannah's door. The girl opened it and found Cameron at the other side.

"So you were going shopping with your mom…" Cameron said sarcastically.

"I…"

"Can we talk?" Cameron said sharply avoiding her eyes.

"…Okay."

They both went to Hannah's room because her family was in the living room watching TV. Hannah closed the door and Cameron exploded.

"Why did you lie to me?!" Cameron shouted, very angry.

"I… I… I didn't lie. We changed plans…" Hannah mumbled.

"See?! You keep lying!" Cameron yelled. "Why don't you want to hang out with me?"

"What? That's ridiculous!"

"Then why did you change your mind? When Jess said she wouldn't be coming you changed your mind and told me you were busy." Cameron continued. "But I didn't believe you… and I was right."

They both stared at each other in silence. Cameron breathed nervous and Hannah's eyes were every time wetter. She didn't want to hurt Cameron, but she couldn't tell him the truth either.

"Some weeks ago I asked you what was happening to you and you didn't tell me. You didn't want to. I was fine with it because we were friends again and I wanted to, you know, respect your privacy." The boy explained with a tremulous voice. "But I'm tired now." He said more firmly.

"Cameron… I'm sorry… I didn't want you to get upset…"

"What is happening, Hannah? Things were so good back then at prom and now we are lying to each other again!"

"I…"

"And don't tell me it's a secret, because I have the feeling it has something to do with me! You only act this way with me!" Cameron exclaimed upset.

"I'm so sorry, Cameron." Hannah told her best friend. "Things are getting complicated for me right now and I'm…"

"Don't you want us to be friends anymore?" Cameron asked her worried. He felt like he was about to cry.

"What? No! Why would I do that?" Hannah asked shocked.

"I don't know! You don't want to hang out with me anymore. You are nice to Jess, Lindsay, Marissa and everyone else, but you act all weird with me!" Cameron was losing it. He needed to say all he had been thinking during last months. "I just want to know what is happening. I just want you to tell me the truth! I'm so confused and I'm afraid we might be growing apart… And I would hate that, I really would! If you want us to stop being friends just tell me because I can't stand it anymore. I'm dying inside and now that I have all these feelings for you I can't even think about not seeing you anymore. I… I… I just need to know what's wrong!"

Hannah stared at his panicking friend with her eyes very opened.

"What?" She whispered.

"… what?" He asked. Not really understanding and still breathing loudly.

"What did you just said?" Hannah asked him.

Cameron thought about his words and then realized what he had said. His eyes opened a lot and his cheeks blushed.

"Do you have feelings f…?"

"Yeah." Cameron confessed, interrupting her. "Yeah, I… I have feelings for you." Cameron said looking away. He was embarrassed. Hannah sighed relieved with a smile, but Cameron didn't see her. "But-but, don't freak out, okay?" He asked her nervous.

Hannah couldn't believe that was true. She was so surprised she didn't know what to say.

"I didn't tell you because I was afraid it would affect our friendship…" Cameron explained.

"…Since when?" Hannah managed to ask, confused.

"I've been having feelings for you since the beginning of the year." Cameron continued. "When we joined the glee club, we began to spend more time together and whenever we sang duets I saw you differently. You were my best friend but I felt something else. Then everybody joined and I chose not to tell you anything because I didn't want you to freak out and ruin our friendship. I really care about you and I didn't want to lose you… I love you, Hannah."

Hannah tried to breathe because she thought she was going to faint. Was that really happening? Cameron was telling exactly how she felt. Had they both felt the same way all that time?

"But you like Marissa…" Hannah whispered.

Cameron snorted angry.

"Again? I've told you hundreds of times I don't like her!" Cameron told her. "Sure, she's nice and pretty, but she's not you!"

They both remained silent for a while. Hannah was still trying to assimilate everything.

"Just forget about what I said. I still want to be your friend no matter what. I'm sorry. I probably should leave…" Cameron said looking down and then he walked to the door.

Hannah had to do something. She couldn't let him leave and now she could finally tell him everything. She breathed and encouraged herself mentally before speaking.

"Wait!" Hannah told him before he opened the door. "Is that really the way you feel?"

"Yes…" Cameron whispered.

"Then… you should know… I feel the same way about you." Cameron turned to the girl, very confused. "I am in love with you, Cameron." The boy opened his eyes incredulous. "I thought it was a crush at first, but then the feelings became stronger. Then I started to feel uncomfortable and I spent less time with you because it hurt not being able to tell you. That is why I acted so weird. That is why I didn't want to be alone with you today…" The red-haired girl explained.

"But… but…" Cameron whispered.

"I thought you liked Marissa and I got jealous because you were always talking to her…"

"But we're just friends. I always tried to make her feel welcome in glee club because she was so important to you. You were best friends since you were kids and I had to know her better…" Cameron explained. "I could never like Marissa. I mean, she's great, but she doesn't make me laugh so much like you do. She doesn't notice when I'm sad or angry. She doesn't make me feel comfortable when she's around. She doesn't make those funny expressions when she gets mad. She doesn't know how to rap. She doesn't make those comments that make me laugh for days. She doesn't make me happy just by smiling… I mean, how could I possibly like Marissa with a girl like you around?"

"…Well, you know, all the boys like her… She's so pretty." Hannah said.

"And so are you!" Cameron argued. "You are beautiful, Hannah."

Hannah had teary eyes and Cameron's cheeks were red. Hannah thought she was dreaming. Things couldn't be going so well. Cameron walked to the girl, took her hands and kissed her. Hannah kissed him back immediately. They both were surprised because it didn't feel weird. It felt perfect. A perfect kiss with the person they loved.

The kiss ended and they looked at each other in the eye. The happiness they felt was immense and they couldn't stop smiling.

Jess heard a noise coming from Damian's house. She had been waiting for an hour and a half sitting on the floor, hidden behind the neighbor' bushes. She looked at Damian's house and saw him locking the main door. He was going somewhere. Jess wondered if she should follow him again. Damian walked away from the house and put his keys inside the pocket of his jacket. Jess remained behind the bush. When Damian disappeared behind a corner, she walked quickly to his house.

Jess rang the bell and waited. No one opened the door. There was nobody home. That was her chance. She had been spying him all day and now she was going to find out what he was hiding, even if she had to break into his house to do it. The girl ran through the garden until she found the kitchen window. It was open. When Jess fell on the kitchen floor, she began to realize what she was doing. Had she just broken into Damian's house? Jess looked around, there was nobody home, but she couldn't see properly because the sky was already very dark. _"Next time I spy on somebody I should get a flashlight."_ She thought.

She shook her head. There was not time to think anymore. She had to act quickly before someone came. _"Damian's room."_ She thought. That was the first place she had to see. She had been there once a long time ago, when they did their science project, so it didn't take her much time to find it. She entered the room and started looking for evidences. She didn't know what she was looking for exactly but anything about Damian's past could be useful. She opened his closet and a lot of drawers but she didn't find anything. She went to the desk and started to rummage through the drawers. In the final drawer she found something that drew her attention. It was a letter from a phone company, informing about new promotions for his mobile phone, but it was not addressed to Damian. The letter said 'Damian McGinty' not 'Anderson'. Jess shrugged. Maybe they made a mistake. She continued looking and found a tiny picture in the bottom of the drawer. Jess looked at it. It was a smiling, young boy. He had brown dark hair, glasses and braces and his face was full of pimples. It was a card size photo, but Jess couldn't recognize who was in it. Could he be a relative or an old friend? Then Jess saw another envelope in edge of the drawer. She took it and read it. It was a letter from the bank and it was also addressed to 'Damian McGinty'. Jess knew that name was important and, even if it seemed strange, she would swear she had heard it before. But when? Where? She still couldn't understand what was happening. She needed to see more old pictures. She took the phone letter and ran downstairs. She had to find the familiar album. It would be probably in one of the furniture of the living room. She began rummaging through all the shelves and drawers of the living room. She found more envelopes, but this time addressed to Fred and Judy McGinty. 'McGinty' again? Why Damian Anderson was now Damian McGinty? She kept on looking and she finally found the album on a shelf, over the TV. She opened it quickly. There were a lot of family pictures, but Damian wasn't in most of them. Jess could identify Damian's mother, a lot younger then, and the man who appeared also in most pictures should be Damian's father. Most of the places where the photos were taken didn't look like Ohio. Jess passed through a lot of pages of the album. There was a boy in a lot of pictures, just like the boy of the photo she found in Damian's room. He should have fourteen or fifteen years. Jess looked at him carefully. It couldn't be Damian. He was so much different. _"He must be a brother"_ Jess thought. But Jess kept looking at the album and she didn't found any other boy. Jess looked into the eyes of the boy. Those blue eyes, identical to Damian's. Jess dropped the album. Was that Damian? How he could have changed so much? Jess heart stopped when she heard some keys at the entrance. She took the album from the floor and she ran just in time to hide behind one of the couches. Her brain was thinking a million things at the same time.

"_No mum, I told…"_

Jess held her breath. She made sure all her body was well hidden behind the couch. After a brief moment, the person that entered the house continued talking.

"_Yes. Yes. I'm still here. It's just that I thought I turned off the lights before I left…"_

Jess cursed mentally. She had turned on the lights of the living room to look for the album. She was the worst spy ever!

"_Yes. Let me look at it. Here it is. Do you want me to read it? Wait. I can't see…"_

The person who entered the house kept talking and, the more he said, the more confused Jess was. On one hand, Jess could hear just one person so she guessed the boy was talking on the phone. On the other hand, the boy sounded exactly like Damian except for the fact that he had an Irish accent. Jess heart stopped again. Was that boy the Irish boy that helped her after her first slushy? How was he related to Damian?

"_Okay. Write. Carrots. Eggs. Milk…"_ The boy said in a slow rhythm. He seemed to be reading a shopping list.

A million of questions appeared in her mind and the possible answers came and left in a blurred confusion. She had to get out of there but she was so curious now. She wanted to see the Irish boy. She had been looking for him since that incident happened. He was so kind she had felt really attracted to him.

The boy finished reading and ended the phone call. Jess heard him coming back to the living room. She took a chance and looked at him quickly. Jess relaxed a little. The boy was far and he was looking at the other side of the room, so Jess could only see his back. He was tall just like Damian and his hair was similar to his. But he couldn't be Damian, right? Damian wasn't Irish. The boy turned around a little, looking at his mobile phone. Jess saw him and her body paralyzed. He was Damian. He was wearing some dark blue glasses but it was him. Damian was turning around now towards her direction. _"Hide! Hide!"_ Jess' brain ordered, but her body couldn't respond. She was completely in shock. Damian saw her. His eyes opened very much and his skin turned paler. Jess brain kept telling her to hide, but she was so in shock, she could not control her body and she stood up. Questions were still assaulting Jess' mind. Who was Damian? Who had he been? Since when did he speak with an Irish accent? Since when did he wear glasses? Why was he so hot with glasses?

"_What are you_… I mean, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" He yelled, back with his American accent.

Jess was trying to find a believable excuse but her brain was busy processing all that information. What could explain her presence in the house? Jess thought and thought but she couldn't come up with anything that would justify her presence there, except for the real reason, to spy on him. The silence lasted forever. Damian still looked at her with huge eyes. He was breathing loudly and he asked again.

"Jess. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"

"I… I…"

She was sweating and she wasn't able to speak. Damian had just caught her inside his house. Jess collected all the mobility she had left and ran as fast as she could towards the door. She opened it and went outside and she continued running until she was very, very far away.

Damian couldn't move. Jess had heard him talking to his mother. She had saw him, but what was she doing inside his house when he wasn't there? Slowly, Damian began to move towards the back side of the couch, where Jess had being hiding. He found the familiar album on the floor and a crumpled envelope addressed to Damian McGinty. She knew! After all that time trying to hide his secret, Jess knew everything!

Jess tried to calm herself, so she sat on a bank of the park. Damian was called Damian McGinty? Damian was Irish? After all that time, Damian was the Irish boy? He was so gentle cleaning Jess' hair that Jess had been looking for him forever. And now he was Damian? It was too much information all of a sudden. That day Jess had decided to spy on Damian and everything had gone terribly because she got caught, but, at the same time, she found out a lot of things. But she needed more. She needed an explanation to all that. Jess took her phone and dialed Samuel's number. He was the first "bad boy" that came into her mind and the only one that could help her.

"Hi, Jess."

"Samuel, I need your help. I want to break into the school this night."

Mark Karofsky went to the living room of his house. His dad was sitting on the couch watching sports on TV. Mark had been thinking a lot about his feelings and his sexuality. He liked Damian, as Alex said. He couldn't deny it anymore. But Karofsky had been thinking a lot about if he liked girls or boys. He realized he had never liked a girl. At school, for example, he didn't like any girl, not even the cheerleaders. All the football players had had a crush on Marissa but him. On the contrary, all the cheerleaders had had a crush on Damian, just like he had. Then he remembered all the flirtations smiles that Emily had made to him. Before she was interested in Damian, Emily tried to make Mark to like her. They even went to her house when her parents were out, but he ended up running away when things got serious. Mark had been thinking he could be gay, but he needed someone to talk to first.

"Hey, dad. Do you have the phone number of Uncle Paul's son?"

"Who? Phil?" The man asked.

"No. Dave." Mark said.

Mark's father frowned and looked at his son with an angry expression.

"Why would I have the number of that faggot?" His father said. Mark tightened his fist. "Anyways. All the family numbers are in that phone notebook over there. But why would you want to talk to him, after all he had done to us?"

"I just wanted to ask him… something about football." He lied, writing down Dave's number.

"Ha! He's too gay now to know anything about football, son." His father said. Mark rolled his eyes. "An advice, son. Don't mix with that part of the family…"

"Alright, dad." Mark said, trying not to show all the sadness he was feeling right then.

Mark went to his room and lay on the bed. He called David and waited nervous for his answer.

"Hi, who is it?" Dave asked with a happy voice.

"It's your cousin. Mark."

"Oh my God! What happened? Is everybody okay?" He said alarmed. Mark had never called him and his family had ignored him since years ago.

"Yes. Yes. Nothing bad happened. Everybody is okay." Mark explained. "I just wanted to talk to you…"

"Wow. That's new. I thought I would never talk to you again." Dave said, more serious this time. "What's the problem?"

"Dave, there's something I need to tell you."

Samuel and Jess pointed with their flashlights to the door knob. They had broken into the school in the middle of the night. Samuel had agreed to help Jess even if she didn't tell him her reasons to do it. Jess was glad she called him, because Samuel was willing to help and he came very prepared. He took some bobby pins and tried to open the door carefully. Samuel didn't make her any questions and Jess was grateful for that. All she had told him was that she needed to see the students' files. They finally entered the room and Jess ran to open the filing cabinet.

"Thanks, Samuel." She whispered. "I don't want you to get in trouble. You can go if you want to."

"Are you kidding?" Samuel said while opening another cabinet. "I am going to try to get rid of my suspensions!"

Jess shrugged and looked at the folders in front of her. She found soon Damian Anderson's folder and opened it. Everything written there seemed normal. His parent's names were Fred and Judy Anderson. He had been in the football team and he had very good marks. But this was his second year at McKinley. Marissa said he had been there always but, according to his file, he had transferred two years ago. Jess looked for any McGinty folder, but she didn't found any. Jess saw Samuel distracted trying to erase all the bad information of his record so she turned on the computer of the room. Jess sat on the chair and searched for the words 'Damian Anderson'. Soon, a lot of information about Damian appeared. He was a junior, he was in glee club,… Then Jess looked for 'Damian McGinty' and no results appeared. Jess typed just 'McGinty' this time and she spread the search to all the computer documents. Two results popped in the screen. Nothing very important, but enough for Jess. The first document was a list of the books borrowed at the school library last year and the second was a small form which said that a letter had been sent to Principal Figgins concerning student McGinty. Was then all that true? Had Damian changed his last name in most school documents? Jess turned off the computer and took the previous year yearbook out of her schoolbag. She reviewed it again. Damian Anderson didn't appear but Damian McGinty didn't appear either. Then Jess saw something interesting she had not seen before. Page 13 was right before page 16. Jess looked between both pages carefully and, even if the room was very dark, she noticed there was a page that was cut. The page 14 and 15 was missing. Jess didn't understand anything. It seemed that Damian was lying about his identity but Jess didn't understand why. She was very confused, but she had something planned for Monday in the morning.

After having thought a lot during the weekend, Jess went to McKinley determined to find Lindsay. She had been in Damian's house, she had broken into the school at night and now she wanted to know more about that yearbook. Jess finally found Lindsay near to the school library. She grabbed her arm tightly and asked her.

"Lindsay. You are in the yearbook club, right?"

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

"I need to see something. Can you help me?" Jess said.

Both girls went to the room where the yearbook club usually met. After that year photos were taken, the room was used by the students in charge of the school newspaper, but Lindsay had still access. Lindsay turned on the computer and looked for last year yearbook, as Jess asked her.

"Here it is." Lindsay said.

Jess took the mouse and started passing pages. Lindsay looked at her worried but curious at the same time. Jess looked at page 14 and 15 and frowned disappointed. There was nothing important there. Just a couple of teachers shaking hands. Then, why was that page cut?

"Is everything okay?" Lindsay asked her.

Jess sighed.

"No. I don't know…"

But then Jess saw him. There was a young boy behind the teachers, in the background. It was Damian, old Damian. He had to be the one that cut the page of library yearbooks. He didn't want anyone to recognize him, but he was so different that Jess really doubted someone could know it was him.

"It's him! It's Damian!" Jess exclaimed pointing at Damian and leaning more towards the computer screen.

Lindsay looked at Damian then too, but she didn't look surprised at all.

"That's it." Jess whispered. She finally remembered. "I remember now where I heard the surname 'McGinty before! When I first asked Hannah who Damian was she said she didn't remember his last name and you said it was 'McGinty'. But then Hannah said it was Anderson." Jess said excited looking at Lindsay with big eyes. "Do you know who that is?" Jess asked pointing at the boy in the picture.

Lindsay sighed.

"Well, I guess you found out about everything…" Lindsay said and Jess looked at the girl confused. "I… I was the only one that recognized him at the beginning of the year. He had changed very much, but I still recognized him." Lindsay explained slowly. Lindsay saw in Jess' face that she didn't understand anything so she decided to tell her everything that happened. "Last year, before I knew you, I was in the library all the time. I didn't have friends or hang out with anybody like I do now. I was here just to study." The girl confessed. "There was a boy that came to the library very often. One day I saw the borrowed books list and I found out he signed as Damian McGinty. But then this year when classes started, Damian had changed a lot. I could still recognize him because I had seen his face a lot of times, but I was the only one that knew he was Damian McGinty. Not even his former classmates remembered him. He acted differently and he hung out with the football players and the cheerleaders. When we were talking in the cafeteria that day, I heard he was now called Damian Anderson. Of course, I knew the truth, but Damian seemed to be fine, so I decided to keep his secret."

"But why? Why did he do all that? Why did he change his looks and his accent? Why did he change his name?" Jess asked her friend.

"Because everybody bullied him at school, of course." Lindsay answered like it was very evident. "Old Damian was alone all the time, he was bullied because of his accent, his good marks, his looks… He was alone all the time and he had no friends… He had a really bad time. Jocks mocked and hit him a lot. When I walked home I usually saw him being thrown into the dumpster."

All Jess was hearing broke her heart. It had to be that what Damian was referring to when he said he had a tough time. She didn't know he had suffered so much. Then Jess realized why the Irish boy knew so much about being slushied and she understood why he always warned the glee club about the jock's plans.

"Then why didn't you talk to him? Why didn't you try to be his friend if he was so alone?" Jess inquired nervous.

Lindsay sighed. She had been expecting that question.

"I wasn't like you, Jess. I know you would have done everything to make him feel happier, but you know how I was back then. I wasn't interested in making friends either. Now I have changed since I joined the glee club, and I feel terrible about my attitude back then."

Jess could understand Lindsay. Even she didn't know how to feel. She felt sad and angry at the same time. Of course, she didn't like that Damian was bullied and was so unhappy. She could understand now Damian's plan. To change his identity to make sure that wouldn't repeat again. She understood why his reputation was so important, why he didn't want anyone around his house,… But Jess was also very mad at him. After his change, he became the bully. He began throwing other kids to the dumpster. He was the one throwing the slushies at the glee kids.

Jess thanked Lindsay for her help and she went to the auditorium. It was a calm place to think about everything. There were a lot of thoughts and feelings in her mind now that she had found out the truth.

_Notes:_

_Chapter 13th is finally here. Sorry for posting it so late. I've had two big translating projects to do for class._

_I first was going to name this chapter "Jess is a spy", but then I thought "The truth" could also apply to Cameron, Hannah and Mark stories. _

_Thank you so much for reading! I'm going to start writing next chapter. =D_

**NEXT CHAPTER: LIARS**


	14. Chapter 14

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 14/17: LIARS**

It was Tuesday in the afternoon and all glee members were in the choir room. There were three weeks left until they would go to Nationals, in New York. Mr. Schue was telling them about how they would be spending the following two weeks rehearsing for Nationals, to be well prepared for the competition. They had to impress the judges and they would do whatever it took to improve their singing and dancing skills. They were all a little nervous and excited about the competition. They had been saving money for weeks to afford the plane tickets and they couldn't wait to see New York.

Jess looked at her right and saw Damian looking at her. She had caught him watching her all day. When she arrived to McKinley, at science class, at their lunch table… They had not talked since the previous Friday, when she discovered everything about his past and his secret and he caught her spying inside his house. Obviously, it wasn't a comfortable thing to talk about and Jess was still confused about how she felt about the whole situation.

"This week we will be doing our last assignment." Mr. Schue explained. "And for our last week, I had thought about something that would bring us together and that would make us feel more like a family. I thought we should sing the Gary Jule's cover of _Mad World_ so we can open our hearts to our friends in glee club." The glee kids nodded in agreement. They liked that song a lot. "In order to do this, every one of you will wear a T-shirt where you will write down one of your secrets or insecurities. You can write, for example, something people say to make fun about you or the thing you like the less about yourselves. You will print that word on your T shirt with that clothing printer over there and then you will share it with the rest of the group."

All the glee members began to think which word or phrase they would choose while Mr. Schuester handed the sheets with the lyrics to them. It would mean revealing personal information, but all of them could understand that picking up that word would make the song more meaningful. They divided the song in different parts for them to sing and the teacher showed to them the steps they had to do. When the class finished they already knew everything they needed to perform on Thursday. The bell rang and everyone walked to the door.

"Jess!" Damian yelled. "Jess, wait."

Cameron and Hannah looked at Jess intrigued, but the girl shook her head so they would keep going without her. Soon, Jess and Damian were alone in the choir room.

"What do you want, Damian?" Jess asked with her usual cold tone.

"I want to talk to you." Damian responded with a serious expression.

"About what?" Jess continued, although the answer was pretty obvious.

"I guess you didn't tell anyone." Damian said.

"No, I didn't."

"Great. Thank you." Damian said a little bit nervous. There was an awkward silence before Damian continued speaking. "Listen. You must know that I only did all that so I could go through school without any more problems. I just wanted to fit in. I was a lot different back then and I just wanted people to stop picking on me so much." He explained.

"And you created a completely new identity so you could do that." Jess continued.

"Yes." Damian admitted.

"And you lied to everyone."

"Yes." Damian said after he sighed. "But listen Jess, I don't care about that anymore. Since I'm in glee club I'm feeling happier and I don't care about my popularity or my image. I just care about you." Damian said and then looked at her in the eye. "I… I still feel the same way about you."

Jess blushed and looked down when she remembered that time at Regionals when Damian told her he loved her.

"Do you expect me to forgive you because you had some reasons for being such a jerk?"

"I don't expect anything from you, Jess. I just needed to tell you. Now that you found out about everything I did, I wanted you to know exactly why I did it. But I hope you can forgive me someday."

"But, don't you see it? You're not better now!" Jess exclaimed mad at him. "Most bullies act without knowing how bad it feels for the other person, but you knew! You knew how it felt to be slushied or to be thrown into the dumpster, and still you bullied other kids every day."

Damian wanted to respond but he couldn't. He could remember those times when he and his football teammates picked on other kids. He hated himself whenever they did that but he was too afraid to risk his own safety.

"I didn't mean to say it like that." Jess apologized. "I know…"

"No, you're right." Damian said interrupting her. "I… I should go."

Damian left the choir room. Jess felt she had been too hard on him. Of course, she normally loved to be hard on him, but that time she had really upset him. And she knew she was not entirely right. Damian didn't bully other kids so much, but he did nothing to stop it. Just like what Marissa used to do when she hung out with the cheerios. Jess and the entire glee club had forgiven Marissa and Emily, and even Mark was becoming a part of the group. Then why was Jess still so harsh on Damian? Jess shook her head. Something crossed her mind, but that couldn't be the answer.

Thursday in the afternoon all the glee kids met in the auditorium. They were all together on the stage, ready to perform their last number before Nationals. Mr. Schue joined them and told them it was the moment to share the words they had chosen.

"I'll start." Jess said.

She undid her sweatshirt showing a white T-shirt with some big black letters on it. The word she had chosen was "INSECURE". Damian looked at her curious.

"What is the meaning of your word?" Mr. Schue asked her.

"Well, I've chosen 'Insecure' because people usually think that I'm always confident and certain about what I'm doing, but actually, I am not. I always have so many doubts and I don't have any idea about what I'll be doing in the future. I'm not as decided as it looks like and, after thinking about it, I thought it was the thing I liked the less about me. I just wanted to show you how I really am." Jess explained.

Damian rolled his eyes. He was glad to know more things about Jess, but he didn't think that word was the best she could have chosen.

"Okay. My turn." Cameron said, showing his T-shirt. A big "WEAK" could be seen on his chest. "I've chosen 'weak' because it's the thing I like the less about myself. I hate when I cannot stand up and defend my friends whenever they need me." He said nervous and blushing. "I would like to be stronger so I can face anyone that bullies my friends."

"Okay. That was a good example, but we all are glad that you don't get into fights with anyone." Mr. Schue considered. "Anyways, what you've said was nice, Cameron. Thank you for sharing it. Matheus, what's your word?"

The boy showed his white T-shirt with the word "SMALL" on it.

"I'm my case, I have not chosen a thing I don't like about myself, but what other people usually say to mock me. If feels bad when they insult me, but I've learned to embrace my height and I care every time less about what they say." Matheus explained to the rest.

"And we don't care either." Lindsay added.

"Yes. We love you Matheus." Emily said.

Everyone agreed and smiled at him. The next person to show her T-shirt was McKynleigh. She had chosen the word "SHY".

"It's what I like less about myself." She explained. "I like everything about me, but I guess I could be a little bit more outgoing."

Alex was next and he explained why he chose "SELFISH".

"This is the worst thing about me." The boy said. "Sometimes my own goals look like more important than everything else. But I'm learning it's not about having the more solos or the more talent, but about sharing and enjoying with others."

"Oh, I don't think you are selfish, Alex." Hannah argued. "You are always giving us lines to sing and sharing your time teaching us the choreographies." She reminded him.

Everyone else agreed and they began telling Alex how they loved his generosity. Later, Bryce explained then why he chose the phrase "BIG MOUTH".

"I chose 'big mouth' because I always say things that can be misunderstood. That's why I'm always having arguments with my friends and with McKynleigh. It causes me many problems and I wish I could change it." He explained.

McKynleigh was nodding while he talked. She knew what her boyfriend was talking about.

"But we love you just the way you are, Bryce." McKynleigh reminded him.

Bryce blushed a little when everybody smiled at him. Marissa took a step forward and showed her T-shirt.

"I've chosen "STUPID" because it's what people call me to bring me down." She said. "But I've realized that I'm maybe not clever at things related to school subjects, but I'm very smart about other topics, like feelings, fashion or animals. So, whoever calls me stupid is the real stupid one." She finished with a little smirk.

"Yeah, that's true." Matheus agreed.

Lindsay undid her jacket. On her T-shirt, everyone could see the phrase "NOT GOOD ENOUGH".

"I've always tried to be the best at everything so my parents could be proud of me. I'm adopted and I guess that's why I've always felt like an obligation to prove to them how good daughter I am." She told them, a bit embarrassed. "It has always being my biggest fear to not be good enough. However, I know now that I just have to be myself and that the only thing I have to prove to my parents is that I love them."

Jess smiled at the girl. She was glad she had changed her mind since the last time she talked to her.

"My T-shirt is a bit different." Samuel said. "It says 'GOOD FOR NOTHING' 'cause even if I act cool about it, I am afraid that I have no talent at anything. Now, in High School, for example, I can't find my place and I'm afraid about what will happen once I finish school." He confessed.

"I don't think that's true, Samuel." Lindsay said. "I think you are very talented."

Both of them stared and smiled at each other for a while until Hannah decided to break the long silence.

"Okay. My word is 'FAT'. It's a mean word people use to insult me, but I don't care anymore about what they say because I love every little thing about me. If people need to bring other people down to feel better, then screw them." She said very confidently.

Emily walked forward and took off her cheerios' sweatshirt.

"So I guess I should speak now, because I am one of those people." Emily said, showing the word "JEALOUS" printed on her T-shirt. "The real reason why I liked to mock other people is that I was jealous of them. I always insulted other people because they had people who loved them or because they were better than me at something. I just envied their happiness and that made me act like a bitch." She looked down feeling very guilty about everything she had said to them in the past. Now, they were her real friends and she couldn't think about saying anything bad to them. "And I also want to confess that I joined in the glee club to spy for Coach Sue."

"We already knew that." Samuel told her.

"Yes, but I want you to know that now I'm on your side and that I won't ever do anything to make the glee club lose!" The cheerio admitted to all of them.

"Yeah, we already knew that too." Hannah said smiling at Emily.

Emily looked at the red-haired girl very surprised, but then she sighed relieved and happy. She just needed to confess the truth about Sue and about the reason she joined the glee club.

"Okay." Mark said unzipping his grey sweatshirt. There was a big "REJECTED" written on his chest. "I recently told someone about my feelings and I was rejected. I felt really bad so I chose that word to perform this number."

Alex looked at him curious and surprised and Damian smiled at his friend trying to cheer him up. Then it was Damian's turn and he showed his T-shirt with the word "LIAR" on it. Jess frowned at him. From all the words he could have told he had chosen such a vague one?

"The thing I don't like about me it's that I'm always lying to everybody. That's why I chose the word liar." Damian said.

"Could you be more specific? What things do you lie about?" Jess asked him and everybody looked at her surprised about her comment.

Damian frowned a little bit at her. He knew what she was doing.

"You know, I'm always lying. I lied to Marissa, I lied to my teammates… I actually like the glee club and I really like singing but I always say I don't." Damian said, obviously avoiding the answer Jess wanted him to say.

Everyone believed him, except for Jess and Lindsay, who looked at each other in disapproval.

Once they had shared everything they felt, Mr. Schue told them it was the time to do the number. After sharing personal feelings and thoughts with everybody, all of them felt closer to each other. It was a good idea to have that assignment before going to Nationals. It made them feel more united.

The kids got in their positions and the lights went dimmer. _Mad World_ music started playing.

**Marissa:** "_All around me are familiar faces_"

**Emily:** "_Worn out places, worn out faces_"

**Mark:** "_Bright and early for their daily races_"

**Samuel:** "_Going nowhere, going nowhere_"

**Matheus:** "_Their tears are filling up their glasses_"

**Damian:** "_No expression, no expression_"

**Hannah:** "_Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow_"

**Jess:** "_No tomorrow, no tomorrow_"

**Cameron and Alex:** "_And I find it kinda funny_"

**Mark and Emily:** "_I find it kinda sad_"

**Damian and Lindsay:** "_The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had_"

**Marissa** **and McKynleigh:** "_I find_ _it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take_"

**Matheus and Hannah:** "_When people run in circles it's a very, very…"_

**New Directions:** "_Mad world" "Mad world_"

**Alex:** "_Children waiting for the day they feel good_"

**Bryce:** "_Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday_"

**McKynleigh:** "_And I feel the way every child should_"

**Cameron:** "_Sit and listen, sit and listen_"

**Samuel:** "_Went_ _to school and I was very nervous_"

**McKynleigh:** "_No one knew me, no one knew me_"

**Lindsay:** _"Hello teacher_ _tell me what's my lesson_"

**Jess:** "_Look right trough me, look right through me_"

**Mark and Marissa:** "_And I find it kinda funny_"

**Lindsay and Hannah:** _"I find it kinda sad"_

**Alex and Samuel:** "_The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had"_

**Emily and Cameron:** _"I find it hard to tell you_"

**Bryce and McKynleigh:** _"I find it hard to take_"

**Damian and Jess:** "_When people run in circles it's a very, very…"_

**New Directions:** _"Mad world" "Mad world" "Enlarging your world" "Mad world…"_

Mr. Schue appeared from one side of the stage and clapped his hands right after the performance ended. He congratulated everybody and, since it was time to leave, everybody picked up their things and got ready to go.

"Wait a second, guys!" Mark Karofsky said and everybody turned to him. He breathed nervously, but he finally continued. "I would want to show you my real T-shirt. There is something I would like to tell you."

His cheeks were a little blushed when all the glee kids gathered in the middle of the stage. Everybody waited for him while he took off his T-shirt to show another one underneath it. The new T-shirt had the word "GAY" written on it. Most of the girls gasped and all the glee members looked at him with their eyes very open.

"I just wanted to share it with you…" Mark said nervous.

He had decided to tell the truth to the glee club since it would be much more difficult to tell it to his parents. Since he was a part of the group, all of his glee friends were really important to him and he wanted them to accept him the way he was. Mark was waiting impatient for any reaction when Marissa and Emily ran towards him and hugged him. Right after the two girls, everybody joined in a big group hug. Damian hugged him proud and Alex patted his back, really impressed by his courage.

"Man, you've been really brave." Cameron told him.

"Yeah." Samuel said. "We'll always support you if you have any problem."

Mark showed a genuine, happy smile after everybody's acceptance and kind words. The glee kids headed towards the doors and Jess and Damian were left alone on the stage.

"It's funny how you wrote 'LIAR'." Jess told him. "There are many other things you could have written, like 'Irish' or 'impostor', or you could have just written 'McGinty', since that's your real name."

Damian rolled his eyes and ignored her. She was obviously trying to annoy him.

"All our friends sharing their secrets and deepest feelings and still you didn't tell them anything about you." Jess continued saying while staring at him. Damian kept silent and placed his schoolbag on his shoulder. "I think you should be honest to yourself and stop acting like somebody you are not, you know? Be just one person, yourself." Damian stared at her too but he didn't say anything. "Are you not going to say anything?" She asked him.

Damian sighed.

"What do you want me to say, Jess? The only thing I have to say to you it's the thing you don't want to hear." He said and Jess blushed visibly. "You said that I lied and that I should be just one person and you are right, but you know what? I'm not the only liar in here. You said you wrote 'Insecure' because it was the thing you liked the less about yourself, but that's a lie. That's not what you like the less."

"Oh, yeah?" Jess said amused. "And what is what I like the less about me then?"

"Simple. That one thing you are so afraid to admit. Your T-shirt should have said 'LIKES DAMIAN'." Damian explained.

Jess looked at him surprised, but the boy shrugged and left the auditorium. Jess stood alone in the dark auditorium looking at the empty stage.

He was right. She liked him. Even if she didn't want to, she did. She didn't know since when but it had been since a lot of time ago. Of course, she didn't wanted to admit it, because Damian was the popular jock that reigned at the school. He messed with other kids and he was dating Marissa when she met him. But Jess couldn't help it and she couldn't deny it anymore either. She had feelings for him. Not clear feelings though; but a confusing mixture of different feelings that had her really puzzled.

But the more she thought about it, the clearer it seemed. Real Damian was kind, clever and funny, just like he proved to be when they spent time together doing their science project. Damian could make her laugh, make her enjoy every conversation and wonder her every time they spent together. Besides, he had a beautiful voice when he sang and he was always taking care of her. The way he caressed her, the way he talked to her and the way his blue eyes met on hers made her heart skip a beat. After how kind he was to her when he helped her to clean her slushied hair, after the time when he sang to her and kissed her, after their dance together at prom… it was impossible for her to refuse it anymore. She got jealous of Marissa and Emily, she was always paying attention to what Damian was doing at all times and she always got mad at him whenever he did something she didn't like. That was why she always was so harsh on him, but she never dared to admit the real reason. And she also melted whenever Damian looked her in the eye or took her hand. "_Damn it!_" She thought. She was in love with him, even after all the things he had done and all the lies he had told.

However, things wouldn't change if he kept pretending to be another person. That was for sure. She would not take any more lies. Damian should decide who he wanted to be in first place. But still, everything was so complicated that Jess didn't know if that would be enough.

Jess took her bookbag and walked home. She had a lot of things to think about that night.

Next week, things went back to "normal" between Jess and Damian. On Monday they didn't talk during the whole day but, as always, the stared at each other during lunch. While all the glee kids talked animatedly about Nationals as eating the tasteless food from the cafeteria, Damian and Jess took glances at each other while thinking about their last conversation in the auditorium. Damian looked at her with a worried expression while she continued to analyze her feelings.

Tuesday in the morning Jess was arranging her locker when Cameron and Hannah came.

"Hey, girl!" Cameron said to Jess.

"What's up?" Hannah said.

"Hi, guys…" Jess said, not very excited. Her two friends looked at each other and began a telepathic conversation. "Stop that!" Jess said realizing.

"What's wrong, Jess? You look so worried these days." Hannah asked her.

"Nothing. It's just that I have a lot of things to think about… And what about you?" She asked her two friends in order to switch to another topic. "I haven't hung out with you guys since days! What have you being doing during the weekend?"

Cameron and Hannah blushed and looked away.

"No-nothing special." Cameron said nervous.

"Well then." Jess said shrugging. "Anyways, you look happy."

Cameron and Hannah chuckled and Jess looked at both of them really confused. They started to make meaningful looks and eyebrows moves to each other.

"Come on! I think we should tell her." Hannah said to the tall, blond boy.

"Okay…" He said.

Jess still stared at them perplexed. Cameron grabbed Hannah's hand with their fingers intertwined and they rose both hands right in front of Jess. The girl watched the hands and her two friends and she opened her eyes a lot when she finally understood. A giant smile appeared on her face.

"Oh my God! Since when? That's fantastic!" She said happy and excited, but her two friends only blushed more. "I can't believe it! I'm so happy for you!"

"Calm down, Jess." Cameron told her.

"But it's so great! But, Hannah, I need details." Jess said.

"Okay, guys. If you are gonna do that, then I am out of here…" Cameron complained.

"Don't!" Hannah said grabbing his sleeve. "We won't talk about it."

"Maybe we should talk about Lindsay and Samuel." Jess suggested. "What is going on there? Are they dating?"

"I don't know." Hannah said raising her voice. There was a noise of people talking loudly coming from the other side of the hallway. "Since they went together to prom I don't know if they have had another date."

"But I think Samuel likes Lindsay." Jess said, also raising her voice. The noise of the students in the hallway was coming closer. "After all, he sang to her at prom. And she likes him too, I believe."

"Yeah. I think it's cute. They kind of complement each other." Hannah added. "Cam… are you okay?"

Cameron had his eyes extremely opened and his mouth hung open. He didn't say anything and Hannah looked at him worried. The girl looked towards the direction he was looking at to see what got him so surprised.

"OH… MY… GOD…" Hannah exclaimed.

She adopted the same expression as Cameron, so Jess turned around to see what was happening. She saw a group of students gathering in the middle of the hallway. They were pushing at each other to get a better view of something. However, after a few seconds they moved away quickly and the person they were looking at kept on walking without problems. It was Damian. Jess stared at him in shock. He walked and the people around him backed off, but continued staring at him. Damian was wearing a dark blue shirt with a fake clover stuck on the left side of his chest. He was wearing grey boots and a grey kilt. He walked decidedly towards Jess and he stopped in front of the three friends, who looked at him in awe. The hallway filled in with people, including more members of the glee club.

"Damian, what are you...?" Jess mumbled.

"_You were right Jess."_ Damian said, loud enough so everybody in the hallway could hear him. _"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied. Especially to you. I should be just one person and I should be myself. So I decided to tell everybody the truth."_

Jess couldn't form any word; she kept staring at the grey kilt and Damian's legs.

"What the hell…?" Cameron whispered when he heard him talk.

A lot of people looked surprised by his Irish accent. Some girls were giggling and some football players looked at the boy with a disgusted expression. Damian unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. He was wearing a white T-shirt that said "DAMIAN MCGINTY".

"_Hi everybody!_" Damian said to all the people there. "_Please pay attention! My real name is Damian McGinty._ _All of you know me as Damian Anderson but that is not my real name. I changed it because I was bullied so badly last year, that I didn't want anybody to recognize me. I wanted to be another person this year but, to be honest, I'm tired of lying. I was lying to be popular and to have some friends, but that person, the one you knew, he is not real." _He explained. He was confident but sometimes Jess noticed him a little nervous. She couldn't believe he was doing that in front of every student. Jess could see Marissa and Emily looking at him in shock. Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste had also come closer to listen to him and they also looked surprised._ "I… I am Damian McGinty. I'm from Ireland and I have been faking my American accent until yesterday. I'm not ashamed of my origins but they put me in trouble last year and I decided to hide I was Irish."_

"What joke is this Damian?" One football player asked him angry.

"Are you doing this for a glee club homework or something?" Another one asked.

Damian ignored them and continued explaining.

"_I love to sing and I love the glee club._" He said.

All the jocks in the hallway laughed hard.

"Dude, glee club sucks!" A really ugly jock said.

"_Glee club is the best place of this bloody high school!_" Damian argued firmly. "_It is the only place of this entire high school where you can make friends just by being yourself!_" He said with a very serious expression. Lindsay was blinking her eyes amazed and Matheus couldn't help a little smirk.

"That's it, glee club turned him gay! I knew this was going to happen!" The same jock said.

Mark Karofsky looked at the other jock furious. He really wanted to punch him on the face. Damian laughed amused, however. His deep voice was the only thing it could be heard in the crowded hallway. Everybody watched him in absolute silence.

"_No, I'm not gay_." He said smiling. "_Actually, I'm in love with Jess Hudson_." He said pointing at the girl.

Jess face turned red while she felt everyone's looks fixed on her. She tried to look away but the whole place was full with people and everybody was watching her. Jess saw Cameron and Hannah looking at her with their mouths open and she felt even more embarrassed.

"_I know I've not been the best person in here._" Damian said to all the students there. "_I have treated you very badly, but I still got your support at football games and at prom when you voted for me. I'm very sorry. You have no reason to forgive me. I don't deserve it. But I want to tell you now that I won't bully anyone ever again. I'm done with that. It's not who I am. In fact, from now on I will help anyone who is bullied." _He said really decided._ "I will defend any student in the school that feels they way I felt last year. If people ever dare to mess with any student, I will be going after them. If people bully my friends, then they should get ready, because I will be kicking their American butts."_

Damian stopped talking and the silence invaded the place. Jess looked at him in awe and moved by his words. The silence was beginning to be uncomfortably long until Cameron walked through the crowd and stood in front of Damian. Cameron stretched out his right hand.

"Welcome, Damian McGinty." He said, smiling to the boy.

Damian smiled back and shook his hand. All the glee kids except for Jess walked to him and gave him a group hug. The bell rang and all the students went to their classes still talking about Damian. The glee members also went to class slowly, but Jess still couldn't move from the spot next to her locker. Damian and Jess were left alone again. He walked slowly towards her and leaned on the locker next to hers.

"So…" Jess whispered.

"_So…?_" Damian asked scanning her with his blue eyes.

"You just revealed all your secrets?"

"_I'll do anything for you._" He said, leaning closer to her.

Jess could felt her heart jumping and her cheeks gathering all the blood of her face. Damn it! Why had he to speak with that charming Irish accent? Jess was trying to figure out what she should do, but Damian longing eyes were too distracting.

"I… I should go to class…" Jess said before Damian got any closer.

She closed her locker and ran away from there. Damian sighed and leaned on the locker with his eyes closed. Of course, it would be too much to ask for a kiss, but at least, Damian saw Jess blushing and nervous, which meant she probably had feelings for him too.

_Notes:_

_Okay. Just in case, I want to make clear that Damian's only wearing the kilt and the clover to draw people's attention about the fact he's Irish._

_Things are getting closer to the end. Did you like this chapter?_

**NEXT CHAPTER: A RISK WORTH TO TAKE **

_Thank you for reading! Please recommend it if you liked it!_


	15. Chapter 15

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 15/17: A RISK WORTH TO TAKE**

Jess entered Geography class with her heart still beating really fast. The bell had rung some minutes ago but the teacher had not arrived yet. Jess ran to sit on her usual chair but Marissa, McKynleigh and Alex, who were in Geography class with her too, stopped her before she could reach her seat.

"So?" Marissa said excited, jumping slightly up and down.

"Did you kiss?" McKynleigh asked with a big smile.

"WHAT? NO!" Jess told her three friends, surprised by the question.

They were waiting for a juicy story with romantic moments, but Jess' frowned eyebrows told them nothing like that had happened.

"Oh." They said disappointed.

Jess sat on her chair and ignored them. The last thing she needed right then were more curious eyes looking at her.

The teacher arrived and the lesson began, but Jess couldn't really focus. There were a lot of thoughts in her mind and Damian appeared in most of them. She felt confused and dizzy.

"E-excuse me." Jess told the teacher. "I don't feel good… I think I need to see the nurse."

The teacher let her leave and Jess took her bag and walked out of the classroom. She didn't go to the sickbay, though. She was walking through the empty school hallway while tears ran down her face. She wiped the tears off her cheeks. She didn't know why she was crying, but she couldn't help it. She walked towards the auditorium. She loved to go there when she needed to think about something. It was a calm place when it was empty and it could give Jess some intimacy.

However, Jess didn't see Damian in the hallway. The boy saw her crying and followed her in silence. He entered the auditorium after Jess and he sat in one of the seats in the last row. Jess climbed up to the stage, sat at the piano chair and buried her face between her arms and the instrument keys. She kept on sobbing and Damian watched her worried. Damian felt like an intruder, watching Jess in such a private moment, but he needed to know what she was feeling. Even if it was wrong, he had to do it. And, after all, she had also spied on him two weeks before, so Damian felt less guilty. The boy camouflaged in the darkness of the audience seats and he watched Jess.

Jess didn't know what to do. She was in love with Damian and she would love to be with him, but, at the same time, it seemed like the worst decision. Yes, she loved him and he loved her, but could she trust him? Jess remembered that day when she found out about Damian's secret. The thing it hurt the most was to know he had being lying to her all that time. However, even if Damian was different, that didn't change the way she felt about him. She liked him before, but after knowing all the truth, she liked him even more. There were no doubts about that. The problem was that, if Damian had lied about that, had he lied about anything else? Would he lie more in the future? Could she actually trust him?

Jess felt unprotected. If she let herself love him, she would be practically giving her heart to him. He could do whatever he wanted to it. Jess would be completely vulnerable. If she loved him, he could hurt her more easily. If he lied to her again, her heart will break and she wouldn't be able to do anything to protect it. But that was normal, wasn't it? It was what everyone else did when they fell in love, right? It was the risk she had to take.

Jess rose her head and looked at the piano. She was still wondering if she could trust Damian. How could she clear up her mind? At that moment she heard Mr. Schue's voice inside her head. He always told them that they should sing to express their feelings. Jess stood up. She would sing about it then.

Damian ducked between the seats. He didn't want her to see him. The last thing he needed was Jess being mad at him again. Damian felt his heart skip a beat when he heard Jess' voice. She was singing in the middle of the stage, still with tears in her eyes.

**Jess:** _"If I fell in love with you"_

"_would you promise to be true"_

"_and help me understand?"_

"'_Cause I've been in love before"_

"_and I found that love was more"_

"_than just holding hands"_

Jess was singing a smooth and slow version of The Beatles song _If I fell_. Her voice sounded beautiful, but she was crying, so it was faltering. That made the performance even more breathtaking and Damian could not take his eyes off her.

**Jess:**_ "If I give my heart to you"_

"_I must be sure"_

"_from the very start"_

"_that you would love me more than her"_

"_If I trust in you, oh please"_

"_don't run and hide"_

"_If I love you too, oh please"_

"_don't hurt my pride like her"_

"'_Cause I couldn't stand the pain"_

"_and I would be sad"_

"_if our new love was in vain"_

"_So I hope you see that I"_

"_would love to love you…"_

Very different images were passing through Jess' mind. Damian throwing a glass full of slushy to her. A tiny picture of Damian when he was fourteen. Damian kissing her. Damian with the paintball gun shooting at her friends. Damian's hand putting a lock of her hair behind her ear. Damian dancing with Emily at prom. Damian standing in the crowded hallway with his white T-shirt. Damian grabbing her waist while dancing with her. Damian making her laugh in Jess' bedroom. Damian looking at her after kicking the dressing room door. Damian smiling at her on the dance floor. Damian taking her hand. Damian's longing eyes next to the lockers.

**Jess:**_ "cause I couldn't stand the pain"_

"_and I would be sad if our new love was in vain"_

"_so I hope you see that I"_

"_would love to love you…"_

"_If I fell in love with you"_

"_Oooooooh…"_

Damian saw her wiping her tears. Meanwhile, he was trying to remember how to breathe again. Jess walked away and disappeared behind the stage curtains and Damian took that chance to walk out of the auditorium.

Later that day, Jess joined the rest of the glee club for lunch. Fortunately for her, Damian wasn't there with them. Everybody stopped talking and looked at her when she arrived. She was already expecting that attitude from them. They were all dying to know what Jess thought about Damian's speech in the hallway, but they didn't dare to ask. Jess sat and they all ate in an uncomfortable silence. It was difficult to bring up any common topic having such more interesting things to talk about.

"Where is Damian, anyways?" Mark asked, seeing it was impossible not to talk about him.

"I think Mr. Figgins wanted to see him in his office." Bryce said.

"Is he getting in any trouble?" Hannah asked worried.

"Maybe. They are probably talking about how Damian changed his name in most of school documents." Lindsay explained.

"Wow. I still can't believe he did that." Emily said.

"Do you guys think he'll be suspended?" Marissa asked.

"Just before Nationals?" Samuel said alarmed.

Everybody looked at each other very worried.

"But he only changed his last name, didn't he? He did not change his grades or anything, right Jess?" Lindsay asked the girl.

Jess watched all those eyes asking for answers. She didn't want to think about Damian being suspended or about Damian not going to Nationals with them. Basically, she didn't want to add more worries about Damian to the ones she already had.

"I… I have to go to the bathroom." Jess said, not answering Lindsay's question. "See you guys later in glee club."

Jess walked away and no one tried to stop her. After being wandering through the school, she went to the choir room when the time arrived. Everyone was there already. Damian too. He was wearing jeans this time, instead of the kilt he wore before. It looked like he didn't get suspended, after all. Their eyes met, but Jess looked away quickly trying to find a free seat. There wasn't any, though. The only empty seat was the one next to Damian and there weren't any chairs around. Jess looked at her friends suspicious. They tried to seem distracted but they were some terrible liars. Jess knew they had hidden the rest of the chairs so Jess would seat beside Damian. She did finally, giving up.

"Is everybody here?" Mr. Schue asked looking at the kids. "Okay. Let's talk about Nationals!" He said.

The teacher began telling the kids which things they should pack to go to New York. Jess wasn't paying too much attention. Suddenly, she noticed Damian leaning towards her. Jess turned to him surprised. What was he doing? Was he going to kiss her? But he didn't. He just leaned to whisper something into Jess' ear.

"_If you fell in love with me, I would never hurt you._" He whispered. The air against Jess ear made her shiver a little bit. Jess thought then about what the boy said. Had he listened to her song in the auditorium? "_Take that risk with me._"

He stared at her eyes with a very serious expression and Jess' heart skipped a beat. Then Mr. Schue continued.

"Today I had planned to start rehearsing for Nationals, but Damian wants to sing a song, so we'll listen to his performance first." He explained to the kids.

Jess moved in her seat nervous. Now Damian was going to sing a song? Damian got up and placed himself in the middle of the choir room.

"_Before I sing this song, I wanted to tell you all again how sorry I am."_ Damian said looking at the rest of the glee members. They smiled at him. They had already forgiven him. _"But I'm singing this song especially to Jess." _He said looking at her in the eye, making her blush even more.The music started playing and Damian began singing.

**Damian:** _"I'm not a perfect person"_

"_There's many things I wish I didn't do"_

"_But I continue learning"_

"_I never meant to do those things to you"_

"_And so I have to say before I go"_

"_That I just want you to know"_

"_I've found a reason for me"_

"_to change who I used to be"_

"_A reason to start over new"_

"_And the reason is you"_

Damian's sad expression was very moving and, even if it was a difficult song for him to sing, he was doing it amazingly. He kept eye contact with Jess the whole time. Jess watched him completely mesmerized.

**Damian:** _"I'm sorry that I hurt you"_

"_It's something I must live with everyday"_

"_And all the pain I put you through"_

"_I wish that I could take it all away"_

"_And be the one who catches all your tears"_

"_That's why I need you to hear"_

"_I've found a reason for me"_

"_to change who I used to be"_

"_A reason to start over new"_

"_And the reason is you"_

"_And the reason is you"_

"_And the reason is you"_

"_And the reason is you"_

There he was. Singing his heart out to the whole glee club. Apologizing to her and to everybody else. Showing his real identity to the entire high school. And he was doing all that just for her. Because he loved her. How could have she doubted if she should trust him? Damian had already given his own heart to her, and she was making it suffer.

**Damian:** _"I'm not a perfect person"_

"_I never meant to do those things to you"_

"_And so I have to say before I go"_

"_That I just want you to know"_

"_I've found a reason for me"_

"_to change who I used to be"_

"_A reason to start over new"_

"_And the reason is you"_

"_I've found a reason to show!"_

"_A side of me you didn't know!"_

"_A reason for all that I do"_

"_And the reason is you"_

Damian finished singing and everyone waited for Jess to do something. Jess' doubts had disappeared. Everything was clearer now. Jess opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. She closed it and looked at her hands, which were resting on her lap. What could she say? What could she do?

Damian stood in front of her for a long time while everybody watched them. Since Jess didn't do anything but to look at her hands, Damian sighed and sat back on his chair. He felt disappointed.

"Okay…" Mr. Schue said. "The class is about to finish so we will choose our set list tomorrow. Remember we will be meeting more days from now on…"

Jess looked at Damian while the teacher kept talking. Damian seemed really sad and Jess felt guilty. Jess loved him too. She had to let him know. Damian was listening to Mr. Schue, just like everybody else. Jess looked at his left arm, hanging between them. Since no one was paying attention to her anymore, she stretched out her right hand and intertwined her fingers between his.

Damian almost jumped off his seat. He looked at her in awe and then at their hands. Jess smirked a little, very embarrassed. Damian's smile became giant while he still watched her incredulous. He looked at Mr. Schue again, still smiling and trying not to shout or run of excitement. Jess squeezed his hand and looked at Mr. Schue too. She loved Damian's smile.

The bell rang, marking the end of the class. Everybody walked to the door slowly. Jess and Damian stood up, still holding each other's hands.

"You changed your clothes." She observed.

"_Yes. I don't normally wear kilts, you know?_" He said and Jess laughed.

"What happened with Figgins? Is everything alright?" Jess asked, more serious.

"_Yes. When I told him who I was, he remembered me. Last year my parents sent him some complaints after I arrived home with bruises in all my body. He remembered me and he understood why I did it. He's been good. I wasn't suspended._" He explained.

Jess smiled relieved.

"Thank you for the song." She said. "It helped me to clear up my mind."

They stared at each other for a moment and Damian's cheeks turned red.

"I… I have to go now." Jess said a little nervous. "See you tomorrow, okay?" She said.

Jess leaned and kissed him on the cheek. Then she took her bag quickly and waved at him, before disappearing behind the door. Damian snorted a little bit disappointed. Obviously, he was more than happy about everything that had happened, but he was dying to kiss her lips again. He shrugged. He had told her already that he loved her so he would wait all the time it took to kiss her, if that was what she wanted.

When Damian got out of the choir room, Mark was waiting him outside. Damian couldn't hide his happy smile.

"I guess everything went well there." Mark said smirking.

"_It went perfect_." Damian confirmed.

"That's awesome, man. I'm happy for you."

Both boys crossed the rest of the hallway, talking animatedly. But soon, something got in their way. A group of jocks dressed with their letterman jackets were in the middle of the hallway. No one else was there. It was late and most students had gone home.

"Look who's here." One of the jocks said. "The biggest losers in the whole school."

"We hope you enjoyed your lesson because we have a number prepared just for you." Another one said, showing a fist.

Mark and Damian watched them cautious.

"_Come on, guys. Do you really want to do that? The football season is over. We'll take off our football jackets if that's what is bothering you…_"

"Wh…? What was that? I don't get any word of what this Irish leprechaun is saying." A tall jock said.

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Mark warned him.

"Ooooh. Did I make your boyfriend mad?"

Mark jumped to him, but Damian grabbed his arm.

"Okay. Let's settle this right now." A strong jock continued. "You two thought you could join stupid glee club and make us look ridiculous, but you can't embarrass the football team and get away with it! We are done with you two ruining our reputation, so guess what. We are going to show you which is your place at this school and which is ours!"

All the jocks moved forward and rolled up their sleeves. Damian gulped. He and Mark were strong, but they were still not enough to fight seven giant football players.

"I guess you all suck at math." A voice from behind them said. Damian turned around and saw Cameron standing in the middle of the hallway. Samuel, Bryce, Matheus and Alex were behind him. Cameron sighed and walked towards them. "You see, the two sides of this fight are not balanced. You need five more people so this battle is fair." The blond boy said.

Damian looked at him with his eyes very open. Then he remembered when Cameron chose the word "weak" for their last assignment and he felt a great respect for him. The group of jocks laughed.

"Are you kidding me? Do you want to get into this fight too? I don't know if I should hit a boy with glasses." The biggest jock said.

"Then I'll make it easier for you." Cameron said putting his glasses inside his pocket.

"Okay then, as you wish." The giant boy said.

He moved his fist quickly in the air and Cameron ducked before it could hit him. Before anyone could react, Cameron had punched him in the face. Cameron held his hurt hand and moved back. The jock looked at him furious and everybody breathed deeply before running and jumping against the others.

Damian was sitting on the couch of his house when the bell rang. He went to open the door, still holding a towel with ice against his eye.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Jess yelled hitting his arm and storming inside the house.

"_Ouch! Don't hit me there!_" Damian complained, covering the bruises of his arm with his free hand.

"Hannah told me about the fight! What were you thinking?! Why did you…?!" Jess stopped yelling when she saw Damian's parents standing next to the kitchen. "…Hi. I'm Jess. Nice to meet you…"

Damian's dad chuckled.

"_It's nice to see you again, Jess_". Damian's mother said, also with her characteristic Irish accent.

Damian grabbed Jess' hand and took her to the couch in the living room, while his parents kept on drying plates at the kitchen sink.

"What happened?" Jess whispered.

"_My football teammates wanted to beat Mark and me up for being in glee club._" Damian explained to her. "_The rest of the glee boys appeared and joined the fight_."

"I know, Hannah is with Cameron right now and she told me!" Jess told him. "Are you insane? Those guys are huge! Why did you get into a thing like that?"

"_It wasn't us!_" Damian argued. "_They wouldn't have gone without a fight!_"

"Are you okay? What did they do to you?" Jess asked taking the towel off his eye. The girl gasped when she saw the black eye.

"_Calm down, Jess. It's not a big deal. It won't happen again._"

"Is not a big deal? After all you've been through… I just ran towards here when I heard… I thought… I was worried about you!" Jess mumbled half worried and half angry.

Damian looked at her surprised and smiled.

"_You were worried about me?_" Damian asked her.

"Wh…?" Jess looked at his eyes and blushed. "Of course…" She said and then grabbed his hand softly. "I was worried about you… I… I care… a lot about you…"

Damian smile grew and their eyes met.

"I… I…" Jess tried to say.

They leaned towards each other, closing their eyes. The noise of a broken plate stopped them. Both of them moved back and looked at the kitchen. Damian's father ran to pick up the pieces that had spread all over the kitchen floor. Jess smiled at Damian.

"Well, I hope you are alright." She said and Damian nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow in glee club."

Damian followed her to the main door. Jess got outside. It was already very dark and the cold winter made Jess hold her arms.

"_See you tomorrow_." Damian said too.

Jess grabbed his hand and kissed him on the cheek. Then she walked away quickly. Damian closed the door and walked to the kitchen.

"_Really? You had to break the plate right then?_" Damian said irritated.

"_I'm sorry, son._" Damian's dad apologized. "_Did I interrupt something?_" He asked smiling and Damian snorted angry.

"_Are you speaking to people now without an American accent?_" His mother asked him.

"_Now I'm just being me_." Damian said and his mother smiled in response.

"_What? What are you two talking about?"_ His father asked. He knew nothing about Damian pretending being American.

"_I will tell you later._" The woman said, still drying plates. "_I guess that girl must be special. I like her. She's cute…_"

"_Mum…_" Damian said embarrassed.

He walked back to the living room and his father followed him later.

"_So, Damian. You were in a fight with some boys at your school…_"

"_Yup._"

"_I hope this won't be happening again…_"

"_Don't worry, dad. It won't_"

"_Good. Good. But, you know… Who won?_"

Damian smiled at him and answered.

"_Us._"

_Notes:_

_That was it. Chapter 15 completed. Just two more chapters left._

_I hope you liked it!_

**NEXT CHAPTER: BLESS YOU, SLUSHY**


	16. Chapter 16

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 16/17: BLESS YOU, SLUSHY**

Glee kids had a special meeting on Wednesday in the choir room. Nationals were getting closer and they needed to rehearse a lot to give their best performance. Jess arrived to the classroom and sat beside Damian. She smiled at him shyly. Damian smiled at her too, trying to hold back the urge he had to kiss her. He wanted to do it so much.

Jess looked worried at Damian's black eye. All the boys had still bruises on their faces. They had a tough fight against the bullies the day before. Jess heard Bryce made a tall jock run scared, Alex was very brave and Matheus beat a boy three times bigger than him. The girl was glad all of them were fine, though.

Then Jess noticed all glee members were looking at her and Damian. Rumors about the two of them getting together flew quickly throughout the school and, at four o'clock in the afternoon, all glee members knew about it. Jess and Damian felt watched by everyone there, so they were relieved when Mr. Schue finally spoke.

"Okay, guys. Next week's Saturday we are going to Nationals in New York." He announced and all the kids smiled excited. "We have a whole week to start preparing the best numbers we could ever think of, but we need a set list first. Have you guys thought about any songs or any groups that you want to perform at Nationals?"

All the kids spoke at the same time.

"Something from Broadway." Alex said.

"The Kooks." Samuel said.

"Spice Girls!" Emily suggested.

"Wicked!" Hannah exclaimed.

"Or The Killers." Samuel added.

"_Coldplay_?" Damian asked.

"Maroon 5." Bryce said serious.

"Madonna." Marissa said.

"Alright! Alright! Listen, I can't understand you if you all talk at the same time!" Mr. Schue exclaimed and the kids stopped. "Guys. I'd love to consider your suggestions, but actually, I've been thinking a lot about it and I would like to propose my own set list too." He explained. "I am going to write in the board the songs I think we should do. Then you can tell me if you like them or if you want to choose yours, okay?"

Mr. Schuester wrote his set list in the white board of the choir room. All glee members gasped excited each time they read the name of a song.

"It's perfect." Cameron said.

"I love it." Emily said.

"I think that should be our set list, Mr. Schue." Lindsay told him.

The teacher smiled, glad they liked his choice.

"Yeah. We could do the first song as a duet…" McKynleigh said.

"And then a great dancing number for the second one…" Alex continued.

"And then we finish with a big group song." Samuel explained.

"Alright then. It's decided. Does everyone agree this should be our set list for Nationals?" The teacher asked and all the students nodded determined. "Then we should vote who's going get the solos. I want every one of you to participate in the decision. I don't want anyone to feel excluded." He explained.

Glee kids usually fought for solos and Will wanted to avoid any kind of argument before competition. Hannah raised her hand and Mr. Schuester gave the floor to her.

"I think the two leaders of glee club should sing the duet." The red-haired girl said.

"Who are the two leaders of glee club?" Jess asked.

"Well, you and Damian. Duh." Matheus said.

"_WHAT? I AM A LEADER OF GLEE CLUB_?" Damian asked, extremely surprised.

"Yeah. I know it seems unlikely, but after what you said about glee club in the hallway…" McKynleigh said.

"That was beautiful and moving." Alex said. "You actually became the co-captain of the club."

"Yes. And Jess is the one that turned the club into what it is now. Without her, it would have not made it." Bryce added.

"She was the one that planned all the numbers we did in high school and she brought half of the glee club members." Lindsay said.

"She's like the heart of the club and she made it popular and cool again." Samuel said.

"Besides, the duet is a romantic song and these two are in love." Cameron said.

Jess and Damian blushed while the rest agreed with Cameron.

"Well, I also think that's a fantastic idea." The teacher said smiling to them. "Damian and Jess have proved to be the best captains the club could have and they are certainly some of our best singers."

Once Mr. Schuester and the kids chose Damian and Jess to sing the duet, they began to distribute the lines they would sing in the other two songs. The kids were the ones that picked which parts they would sing because Mr. Schuester wanted everyone to do their bit. After doing this, they all went together to the auditorium to start rehearsing the choreography.

They spent the entire afternoon practicing the steps. Marissa and Emily wanted the choreography to be spectacular so they volunteered to teach the boys how to throw them in the air. They had their cheerios practice so they would add some flips to the performance. A bit later, Alex rehearsed the steps with Cameron and Damian, who found difficult to catch up with all the dance moves. Everyone worked as a team and everyone helped each other. Damian glanced and smiled at Jess most of the time. After having practiced the steps, Mr. Schue took Damian and Jess to a side of the stage and rehearsed with them their duet. They felt a bit embarrassed for singing that song in front of everybody else. At the end of the day, they did a complete rehearsal of one of the group numbers. All the kids sang wonderfully, but Jess stood out the most because she could sing very difficult notes with a very high voice. She sounded beautifully and she did it more than perfect. When they finished, everyone applauded each other.

Everyone was going to go home when some people entered the auditorium.

"What are you guys doing here?" Matheus asked.

Ellis Wylie and a couple more of boys from the A.V. club were walking towards the glee group. Behind them there were a bunch of kids from the school theatre club and a couple of basketball players.

"We thought you would need some help to win Nationals, although I still think it's a silly competition." Ellis told New Directions, not very excited.

"We want you to win so we'd like to offer you some help with the lighting and the visual effects of the performance." Another member of the A.V. club said.

"Yeah. And we can help you with your costumes and whatever else you need." A girl from the theatre club said. She performed with Lindsay in the school play some time ago.

All the glee kids were absolutely stunned by their kindness and generosity. It was the first time they felt fully supported by other students and the first time someone cared about if they'd win or not.

"Wow. That's very thoughtful from you, guys." Mr. Schue said, also shocked.

"We'd love to have your help!" Jess told them.

"And what about you guys?" Bryce asked to his basketball teammates.

"We wanted to tell you we have a rock band outside school." One of the tall boys said. "If you want to have some live music at Nationals, we can go there with you and play."

"That's sounds awesome!" Samuel said excited.

"Yeah. We'd love to have you there. Thanks guys!" Bryce said to his friends. He had no idea other guys in the team loved music as much as him, so he was really pleased to hear that.

After the happy encounter with Ellis and the others, everybody went home. It had been a very long day and they all were very tired. Damian hold Jess' hand and they walked together towards the exit doors.

"_You were amazing back there_." Damian said looking at her eyes. He thought she had beautiful eyes. "_Everyone was great and it's just our first day rehearsing. We are sooo winning Nationals! Even with my awkward dancing and all that._"

Jess laughed. It felt great to see Damian so happy and to see him being himself.

"Hey, IRISH!"

Suddenly, Jess and Damian were completely covered in blue slushy. Damian looked at Jess and saw her gasping for air. The rage invaded his body and he ran to chase the big jocks that threw the slushies to them. They had been in the fight they had the previous day and, apparently, they had not accepted their defeat.

"No! Stop!" Jess shouted.

Jess ran after him and grabbed his arm.

"Don't do that, Damian. It's what they want." Jess told him, holding his hand tighter. "We're just a week ago from Nationals and we can't get in trouble. They're just afraid they won't be so popular once we win. They are realizing they're losing their power."

"_Alright…_" Damian grumbled.

Damian walked into the boy's bathroom to clean off the slushy. Jess followed him.

"Let me help you." She said.

Jess looked for a chair and made Damian sit on it, next to the sinks. She turned the tap on and wetted a towel carefully. Damian closed his eyes while the girl washed his head. She ran her fingers slowly through his hair, removing the ice. The warm water made his body less cold every time, but what he loved the most were Jess' hands wandering through his skin. The boy had his eyes closed, but he could feel Jess was very close to him.

"Damian, you've gone red." Jess said, half laughing.

Damian opened his eyes and stared at Jess. She was very close to his face, smiling at him.

"_Now let me help you_." Damian told her.

The boy took then the towel and put in under the tap. Jess moved the chair away and stood next to the boy. Damian wiped softly Jess' head with the moist towel, cleaning locks of her hair one by one. Jess stared at his eyes while he kept doing that. Her cheeks were blushing and her heart was beating really fast.

Damian knew he didn't want to rush things, but he would not be able to hold back his urge to kiss her again. There was so much tension between them. All those caresses and smiles were not enough to show all the feelings they needed to show. A lock of hair fell on Jess' face and Damian moved it away very carefully. Jess remembered immediately that time when Damian did the same exact thing, months ago, when she didn't knew who the mysterious Irish boy was. The girl looked at Damian in the eye, with longing eyes. She was incredibly in love with him.

"_Close your eyes. You've got a little ice on your face…_" Damian whispered.

Jess closed her eyes and Damian removed the ice with the towel. He caressed her cheek, but Jess didn't open her eyes again. Damian couldn't hold back any longer. Jess couldn't hold back either. He leaned over. Jess felt Damian's hand holding her chin and then she felt Damian kissing her softly. Jess leaned forward straight away and kissed him back tenderly. The boy held her waist and crashed their lips together stronger this time. Jess ran her fingers through Damian's hair. They felt euphoric. It was like a dream that came true. That kiss was absolutely perfect for them. They wished it would never end. Damian and Jess could taste each other lips and they could feel their cold bodies very close to each other. Gradually, the constant kiss turned into smaller kisses. Damian held Jess' hands and they finally gave each other a last soft peck. They rested their foreheads together and stared at their eyes for a while.

After that moment, they finished cleaning themselves and walked home. Damian kept his arm around Jess shoulders until they arrived to her house. He said goodbye to her with another romantic kiss. When she closed the door, Damian jumped of excitement in the middle of the street and then walked home with the biggest smile he could show. Jess leaned against the closed door and laughed of pure happiness. Then she ran to her bedroom, hugged a pillow and rolled all over her bed, unable to contain her joy.

_Notes:_

_Ooooh. This chapter is so short! I hope you liked though._

_(Well, it's not short, it's normal. The rest are the ones that are unusually long.) XD_

_Next chapter will be a lot longer, but I shouldn't say anything until I have it completely written. Maybe I'm wrong._

_I hope you like my choice of songs in next chapter. I'm busy so I can tell when I'll post it. See you in the last one!_

**NEXT AND LAST CHAPTER: NATIONALS**


	17. Chapter 17

**GLEE/TGP FANFIC: NEW DIRECTIONS (SECOND GENERATION)**

**CHAPTER 17/17: NATIONALS**

Jess looked at the clouds passing at the other side of the small plane window. The weather was good, Samuel and Bryce were telling jokes, McKynleigh was taking a lot of photos and Lindsay and Hannah were humming the whole _Wicked_ repertoire behind Jess' seat.

"_Jess, relax_." Damian told her, looking at the water bottle paper she had torn into a hundred little pieces. He held her hand and gave her a supporting smile. "_What's wrong?_"

All the glee kids were in a plane in their way to New York to compete at Nationals. Mr. Schuester and his wife Emma were there with them, as well as the band players that offered to play for them. All the kids were having a great time but Jess was worried.

"I'm really nervous. I don't want to ruin all of our numbers." She explained. Damian looked at her confused, not understanding at all. "We've got our duet together and I also have a big part in the other two songs. I'm afraid that I won't do it well and that I'll let you down." She said spinning the empty water bottle between her hands.

"_What? That's the silliest thing I've ever heard!_" Damian told her.

"Yeah. Jess. Calm down. You'll do great. You always do." Samuel said.

He and Mark had suddenly popped out from behind the seats in from of them.

"Yes. Don't worry. We know you are going to be the best out there. We trust you." Mark said. "Now you have to have fun!"

Jess appreciated their kind words. Damian's warm hand and blue eyes made her calm. Damian kissed her cheek and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Soon, all her worries went away and Jess fell asleep on the Irish boy's shoulder. She slept through the whole journey and she did not wake up until the plane was landing.

All of them went to the city hotel and left their luggage in their rooms. All the glee boys had one room with seven beds for them and the girls had another one, but they all spent the night in the boy's bedroom. They played cards, sang, told anecdotes and talked about how excited they were for the competition.

Next morning, they all travelled around New York. None of the glee kids had ever been there so they went to the most famous places in the city. After seeing the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center they spent the rest of the morning in Central Park. McKynleigh took pictures of everyone with her new camera and Marissa and Emily shopped a lot. Alex, Hannah and Lindsay loved seeing Broadway Avenue, full with enormous posters of their favorite musical theatre shows. They had prepared their numbers really well so they could spend the morning having fun. It was a dream come true. Going to New York with their friends and finally be singing at Nationals. They were really happy.

Later in the evening, the glee club went to the theater where the competition would be held. When they got in, they saw a lot of boys and girls of their age, some of them already dressed for the performance. Some of them were rehearsing the songs and some others were practicing the dancing steps of their numbers. Jess gulped. All of them seemed really, really good. They looked very well prepared and they all were very talented. The girl noticed Damian squeezing her hand, trying to cheer her up and give her some confidence. It was like he had read her mind and she loved that about him.

The kids kept on walking to their dressing room. It was very early still but they wanted to be ready like the other groups. The glee boys dressed with their black pants and shirts. They also wore metallic-orange ties and vests. The girls put on their dresses. They were black with shades of orange and yellow at the end of the skirts, in a way that made them look like if they were on fire. Alex had designed their costumes and the theatre group had helped to make them. Once they finished preparing they waited for their turn in the next room while the first groups went on stage. Jess was very nervous and she couldn't stop walking throughout the room. Damian got up from his seat and stood in front of her. She looked at him, but she could not hide her worried expression.

"_Jess, calm down_." Damian told her.

"Oh, I'm calmed." She said, but her voice was faltering and her hands were shaking.

Damian held her hand and put it between his.

"_Come with me._" He told her and then guided her outside the room.

They both walked to an elevator. Jess had no idea where Damian was taking her, but then he pressed the upper button. Jess was not any more relaxed. After all what happened last time at Regionals she did not want to separate from the rest of the group, but she trusted Damian.

"_Okay. Follow me._" He said when they got out from the elevator.

They climbed up some stairs and they arrived to a metal door.

"_Now, close your eyes._" He said.

Jess obeyed. She felt Damian's hand taking hers and the wind coming from the opened door. They walked a few more steps in what Jess suspected it was the terrace roof of the building.

"_Open them._" Damian asked her then.

She did and she gasped surprised and amazed. From that place she could see tons of little lights from the buildings and skyscrapers around them. The advertising signs shined and the headlights of the cars looked tiny very far beneath them. There were even more lights apart from those. Up in the sky the stars were shining nearly as bright.

"It's beautiful." Jess said contemplating the city at night.

"_Of course it is._" Damian said smiling at her. "_Look, Jess. We're in New York. We have made an incredible journey and we have seen one of the most amazing places in the whole world. Besides, we've done that with our best friends and we have enjoyed every second of it. And on top of that, now we are going to do what we like the best. We are going to sing and we are going to have a blast on stage together._" He said with a smirk and he looked at her in the eye. "_Don't be nervous for the competition, whatever happens, this journey is already worth it_."

Jess smiled, trying not to cry. Damian always knew what to say to her. Jess kissed him and Damian put his arms around her. They kissed for a while up there in the flat roof, under the stars.

"_Come on._" Damian said after they kissed. "_We're about to perform and it's freezing out here!_"

When Damian and Jess got back to the rest of the group, there were only a couple of glee clubs left to perform before them. Everyone gathered in a circle and Mr. Schue pronounced one of his motivational speeches. All the glee kids gathered their hands and threw them up in the air with a war cry. They approached the stage when the group that performed before them was finishing.

"_We are so much better._" Damian whispered to Jess, making her laugh.

The other glee club got out of the stage and the curtains closed. Damian squeezed Jess' hand.

"_Break a leg._" He said and then ran to his position.

The host was announcing them when Jess ran towards Damian in a sudden impulse. The boy looked at her surprised by her sudden movement, when the curtains were so close to be opened.

"Damian, I love you." She told him looking at his blue eyes.

She kissed him briefly with teary eyes and then ran back to her side of the stage, just when the curtains were beginning to open. Damian was standing in the middle of the stage. Bryce's friends and the rest of the band started playing the music and Damian began to sing walking forward. All the audience fell silent when they heard his voice.

**Damian:** "_It´s a little bit funny this feeling inside_"  
"_I´m not one of those who can easily hide_"  
"_I don´t have much money but, oh, if I did_"  
"_I´d buy a big house where we both could live_"

Damian's voice was beautiful and captivating. No one could ignore it. Everybody fell in love when that stunning and melodious voice sounded and Jess noticed it in the audience. Jess walked slowly into the stage and she began to sing.

**Jess:** "_If I was a sculptor, but then again, no"  
"Or a girl who makes potions in a travelling show"  
"I know it´s not much but it´s the best I can do"  
"My gift is my song and this one´s for you_"

At the moment she started to sing, all her worries disappeared from her head. She did not think about the steps or the notes. She did not think about the audience either, nor about anything in the past or the future. She could only think about that moment. About singing and expressing her feelings with her voice while she stared at Damian's eyes. Jess loved him so much that she was almost certain her feelings were so strong they could be transmitted through the song.

**Damian:** _"And you can tell everybody this is your song"  
_**Jess:**_ "It may be quite simple but now that it´s done"  
_**Damian and Jess: **_"I hope you don´t mind"_

"_I hope you don´t mind that I put down in words"  
"How wonderful life is while you´re in the world_"

Damian and Jess sang together. They got closer and they moved away again, imitating the choreography almost automatically and without thinking.

**Damian:** _"I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss"  
"Well a few of the verses well they´ve got me quite cross"  
"But the sun´s been quite kind while I wrote this song"  
"It´s for people like you that keep it turned on"_

**Jess:** _"So excuse me forgetting but these things I do"  
"You see I´ve forgotten if they´re green or they´re blue" _(in a higher key)_  
"Anyway the thing is what I really mean"  
"Yours are the sweetest eyes I´ve ever seen" _(in a higher key)

Everything was in silence. Damian and Jess were the only voices sounding in the whole place. Everybody was paying attention to them. They walked in circles looking at each other.

**Damian and Jess:** _"Ooooh"_

"_And you can tell everybody this is your song"_

"_It may be quite simple, but now that it's done"_

"_I hope you don't mind"_

"_I hope you don't mind that I put down in words"_

"_How wonderful life is while you're in the world"_

Jess and Damian's voices sounded beautiful and perfect together. They got closer again at the end of the song and sang holding both hands.

**Damian and Jess:** _"I hope you don't mind"_

"_I hope you don't mind that I put down in words"_ (Jess sang in a higher key)

"_How wonderful life is while you're in the woooooooooooorld!"_ (Jess sang in a higher key)

Both of them were holding their hands tightly and their faces were just inches apart.

"Please, don't kiss." Mr. Schue whispered from his seat in the audience.

When the music stopped playing, the two kids got back to reality. Everything was too silent. Was there something wrong? Jess looked worried at the audience but immediately everyone started to clap very hard and they got up of their seats. That was a huge ovation and Jess smiled happy that they liked it so much.

Damian took Jess' hand and they ran back to their new positions. The rest of New Directions ran into the stage when the band started playing _Smells like teen spirit_. All the audience gasped excited and made comments when they recognized the song. It was a classic. The band players were doing an amazing job and the A.V. club members had prepared a set of lightning that made the stage look like a rock concert. It was a big change after such a romantic song. After running from one side to other of the stage, the glee members began singing the lines they had chosen back in glee club.

**Samuel:** "_Load up on guns and bring your friends_"  
**Bryce:** "_It's fun to lose and to pretend_"  
**Matheus:** "_She's over bored and self assured_"  
**Mark:** "_Oh no, I know a dirty word_"  
**Samuel:** "_Hello, hello, hello" "How low_?"  
**Bryce:** "_Hello, hello, hello" "How low_?"  
**Matheus:** "_Hello, hello, hello" "How low_?"  
**Mark:** "_Hello, hello, hello_"

**New Directions**: "_With the lights out it's less dangerous_"  
"_Here we are now" "Entertain us"  
"I feel stupid and contagious"  
"Here we are now" "Entertain us"  
"A mulatto" "An albino" "A mosquito" "My Libido" "Yeah"_

All the kids in New Directions did one of the hardest choreographies they had ever done while they were singing the chorus. It took many days to make it perfect but they were killing it on that stage. Besides, the red and orange lights and their costumes made it look more spectacular. Two steps to the right, head, hands, spin, back, hands again, arms up, to the left,… Everything was done in the right place and moment and Mr. Schue watched them proud from the audience.

**Alex:** "_I'm worse at what I do best_"  
**Emily:** "_And for this gift I feel blessed_"  
**Marissa:** "_Our little group has always been_"  
**Hannah:** "_And always will until the end_"

**Alex:** "_Hello, hello, hello" "How low?"_  
**Emily:** "_Hello, hello, hello" "How low?_"  
**Marissa:** "_Hello, hello, hello" "How low?_"  
**Hannah:** "_Hello, hello, hello_"

Marissa, Damian and Mark walked to a side of the stage and Emily, Samuel and Bryce walked to the other extreme. When the second chorus began, the boys threw the girls in the air and Marissa and Emily did the flips that they used to do at cheerios practice. From the back part of the stage columns of fire rose in the air, courtesy of Ellis and the audiovisual club. While the cheerleaders were doing the flips, the rest of New Directions sang at the centre of the stage, doing at the same time a very difficult choreography.

**New Directions:** "_With the lights out it's less dangerous"  
"Here we are now" "Entertain us"  
"I feel stupid and contagious"  
"Here we are now" "Entertain us"  
"A mulatto" "An albino" "A mosquito" "My Libido" "Yeah!"_

The audience couldn't believe what they were seeing. They all shouted in excitement when they saw the fire and the girls flying in the air. When the second chorus finished everybody stood up and clapped. Every glee member grabbed a partner and kept on doing dance steps while Matheus went the whole stage doing somersaults. The band kept on playing very focused. They were putting all into the performance and the result was amazing. When McKynleigh began to sing again, the audience sat back and went silent.

**McKynleigh:** "_And I forget just why I taste_"  
**Lindsay:** _"Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile_"  
**Cameron:** "_I found it hard" "It was hard to find_"  
**Damian:** "_Oh well, whatever, nevermind_"

**Damian and Cameron:** "_Hello, hello, hello" "How low_?"  
**McKynleigh and Lindsay:** "_Hello, hello, hello" "How low?"_  
**Damian and Cameron: **"_Hello, hello, hello" "How low_?"  
**McKynleigh and Lindsay:** "_Hello, hello, hello_"

Everything repeated again in the last part of the song. Damian, Bryce, Mark and Samuel helped Marissa and Emily to jump and spin in the air. Matheus did flips from one side of the stage to the other. Columns of fire rose behind them and the spotlights lighted them on and off. Meanwhile, Cameron, Alex and the rest of the girls sang the last chorus. The boys were at both sides of the group while Jess stood in the middle. They sang their hearts out while dancing and waving their dresses, with edges that also looked on fire. The audience stood up again and applauded strongly. All the effort they had put into the performance was paid off. Everybody was loving it.

**New Directions: **"_With the lights out it's less dangerous!"  
"Here we are now!" "Entertain us!"  
"I feel stupid and contagious!"  
"Here we are now!" "Entertain us!"  
"A mulatto!" "An albino!" "A mosquito!" "My Libido!"_

Jess took a couple of steps forward and sang as loud as she could.

**Jess:** "_A denial!" "A denial!"  
__"A denial!" __"A denial!"_

"_A deniaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAL!_"

Jess belted out the last note so high and so long, even the glee members were surprised. She had never sounded like that in the rehearsals. Damian felt he was about to faint from hearing her voice at that moment and the crowd couldn't wait to clap. As soon as she finished, the lights dimmed and the audience applauded madly again. The kids gathered at the centre of the stage but it took a while until the spectators calmed down. New Directions could not be happier. They were cheering so hard and there was still a number left to perform! When the people in the audience got back to their seats again the kids began singing their last song.

**Matheus:** _"Hey Jude, don´t make it bad" "Take a sad song and make it better"_  
**Hannah:** _"Remember to let her into your heart" "Then you can start to make it better"_

Everything was calmer in that last song. The lights shined white and the kids did not dance at all. After showing the powerful voices in the first song and their talent at dancing in the second one, they wanted to show the true heart of New Directions in their last number at Nationals.

**Damian:** "_Hey Jude, don´t be afraid" "You were made to go out and get her"_  
**McKynleigh:** "_The minute you let her under your skin" "Then you begin to make it better_"

Apart from the person singing the song, the rest of New Directions sang the harmonies in the background. The whole auditorium was in silence when they were not singing.

**Lindsay:** "_And anytime you feel the pain"  
"Hey Jude refrain"  
"Don´t carry the world upon your shoulders_"  
**Samuel:** "_For well you know that it´s a fool"  
"Who plays it cool"  
"By making his world a little colder"  
"Na na na na na" "Na na na na!"_

**Alex:** _"Hey Jude don´t let me down" "You have found her, now go and get her" _  
**Mark and Marissa**: _"Remember to let get into your heart" "Then you can start to make it better"  
_  
**Emily:** _"So let it out and let it in"  
"Hey Jude begin"  
"You´re waiting for someone to perform with"_  
**Cameron:** _"And don´t you know that it´s just you"  
"Hey Jude, you´ll do"  
"The movement you need is on your shoulder"  
"Na na na na na" "Na na na na yeah"_

They all were there together. They were friends and they were having the time of their lives. The teachers watched them moved and the judges stared at them with their mouths open.

**Bryce:** _"Hey Jude, don´t make it bad" "Take a sad song and make it better"_  
**Jess:** _"Remember to let her under your skin" "Then you can begin to make it better"  
"Better, better, better, better, better, ooooooh!"_

**New Directions:** _"Na, na na na na na na" "Na na na na, hey Jude"_

**Matheus:** _"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"_

**Alex:** "_Make it Jude"_

**New Directions:** _"Na, na na na na na na" "Na na na na, hey Jude"_

**Emily:** "_Oh, Jude! Oh, Jude_"

**Marissa:** "_Oooooh" "Ooooooooh_"

**New Directions:** _"Na, na na na na na na" "Na na na na, hey Jude"_

**Cameron:** _"Uuuuuh"_

**Samuel:** _"Jude, Jude" "Oh, Jude, Jude, Jude…" "Oh!"_

**New Directions:** _"Na, na na na na na na" "Na na na na, hey Jude"_

**Hannah:** _"Na, na naa!"_

**McKynleigh**: "_Jude, Jude, Juuude…"_

**New Directions:** _"Na, na na na na na na" "Na na na na, hey Jude"_

**Lindsay:** _"Yeah, yeah, yeah…"_

**Bryce:** _"Jude, you gotta make it!"_

**Damian:** _"Take a sad song and make it better!"_

**New Directions:** _"Na, na na na na na na" "Na na na na, hey Jude"_  
_"Na, na na na na na na" "Na na na na" _

"_Hey Jude…"_

The lights dimmed and the audience stood up and applauded one more time. The kids were supposed to keep their heads down but they couldn't do it. They were more than happy when they saw the thrilled people cheering for them. Cameron held Hannah's hand, because the girl was crying of happiness. The boy looked again to the crowd and saw Mr. Schuester smiling with his mouth open. It seemed that the building was going to fall down from all that roaring. Jess saw the judges standing and got excited. She bowed and her friends did the same. They walked behind the curtains and Damian hugged her tightly.

Once they arrived where they wouldn't be heard they started crying.

"Jess, you had been spectacular!" Marissa yelled, very excited.

"Oh, my God, Jess! You've stunned them!" Cameron told her.

Everybody hugged her and shouted excited how great she had been. Mr. Schue arrived running and hugged her too. The teacher congratulated everyone.

"Did you see Matheus' flips, Mr. Schue?" Hannah asked him.

All the kids congratulated each other, while Jess began to cry between Damian's arms.

"_You've been amazing_." He whispered to her ear. "_I fell even more in love with you._"

"I love you." Jess told him looking at him.

"_I love you too_." Damian said with the biggest smile.

"Aaaawwwwwwwww." The rest said in unison. Jess and Damian blushed. They had not noticed the room was silent when they said those words.

While the rest of the performances went by, the kids gathered in a circle holding their hands. They went back to the stage for the first eliminations. There were fifty groups competing at Nationals and the judges called them in groups of five to left only ten finalists at the end. New Directions went to the stage once more and they found they were in the same group that Vocal Adrenaline. Vocal Adrenaline was the last year champion and New Directions had always known they were one of the hardest rivals. Only Mr. Schue had watched their performance so they had no idea who of them would make it to the final.

"And the finalists of the fifth group are…" A tall woman with glasses said. "New Directions!"

The kids jumped excited. They were one step closer to win Nationals!

When they announced all the finalists, all the ten glee clubs went back to the big stage. One of the judges, the woman with glasses, got up on the stage too and started talking.

"This year, there has been a lot of talent in this show choir competition. However, even if you all deserve a trophy, only one group can win the first prize. I will start saying the names of the last finalists. In tenth place: Singing Sisters!"

An all girl glee club bowed to the audience and walked away from there. The judge kept on naming the rest of the groups one by one. New Directions kept their eyes closed, hoping she would not say their name until the end.

"Well, we've only got three more finalists." She said. "In third place: Wellington Academy with its group Not Just Music!"

The audience applauded hard. It was clear those were their three favorite groups too.

"And, at last, the first prize of Nationals competition. I must say that this is not the first year that I'm a judge in this competition. I've been here several years and I can say that every year us judges discuss over and over again and we always rack our brains to decide who's gonna win. However, this year, some kids made the job really easy for us. So, without further ado, the winners of Nationals are… New Directions!"

The audience got up and cheered madly. Samuel and Matheus jumped and threw their fists in the air. Cameron was really calm and, with a giant smile, he hugged Hannah, who was crying. McKynleigh and Bryce hugged and kissed each other. Lindsay and Mr. Schue were accepting the trophy and Alex was catching his breath, trying not to faint. Marissa and Emily were moved and they hugged Karofsky. Damian leaned to hold Jess who fell on her knees because of the excitement. Tears were coming out her eyes while she covered her mouth with a hand. Meanwhile Damian held her hand, worried. Mr. Schue rose the prize in the air and those who could still move jumped thrilled. Damian was stroking Jess' head while the girl was still looking at the floor in shock. The judge approached her concerned.

"You really deserved that." The woman whispered to her. "I've never seen something like that since a long time ago."

Jess cried inconsolably and Damian pulled her up with a hug. He smiled and thought she was the cutest. Jess kept on crying on his shoulder while the crowd kept on applauding. Schuester bowed in gratitude, pointed with his arms to the kids and clapped his hands too. The kids moved a few steps forward and bowed too. Suddenly, Jess heard the people roar in applause and saw that her friends had moved away and that they were applauding her. She leaned forward several times, waiting for the people to stop, but they didn't. Jess took some air.

"I… I…" The people in the audience fell silent soon, seeing that she wanted to speak. The judge gave her a microphone. "I would like to say something… I know this is a singing competition but I would like you to know what glee club means to me." Jess wiped her tears with her free hand. "A couple of months after the year began, I arrived to my new high school and I was almost invisible… There are a lot of jerks there…" She pointed out, making people laugh. "But soon, these guys showed me what the glee club was and, since that moment on, I wasn't alone anymore. Since we were there, nobody was alone. We all could find friends in there, even if the rest of people rejected us because of how we were or what we liked or if we weren't happy and lived a life full of lies. When someone arrived to glee club, they found their family. We are always singing and dancing, but that wasn't what made us special, but what we meant to each other. There, we could find friends, we could find love and, most importantly, we could find ourselves. And, even if others threw us slushies or threatened us, we were always together and together we became stronger. As I was saying, this is a singing competition, but I have to say that, if there was a competition to the best glee club, to the best… _family_, Mr. Schue and these guys would also win the first prize."

Jess put the microphone down and got back with the rest. The audience made an ovation again and Mr. Schue was about to cry. Hannah and McKynleigh hugged her, but they moved away when Damian arrived running and kissed her passionately. Jess heard some whistles from the crowd, but she didn't care. That was the happiest moment of her life. The kids walked slowly backstage but the audience didn't stop clapping.

THE END


End file.
